The Warlock's Apprentice
by PhantomFool
Summary: Tom's resurrection party pushes Harry to fight for his life, something he does well enough that Dumbledore decides Harry might be more suited for a world of war and deceit than he originally thought. The Strongest Wizard in 100yrs has found his pupil.
1. The Escape to Closure

{Chapter 1: Escaping to Closure}

"As I looked out over the small mob of black robed figures surrounding the abomination responsible for everything horrible and dark in my life I realized the sad fact that it was over.

Every life that was lost protecting this generation wizards and witches. All the sacrifices made in the first war. All the blood that was shed, and all the tears that fell only ransomed a measly thirteen-year reprieve.

Now I stood there bound by the magic of the same rat who sold out my parents, while I was forced to listen to the great 'Heir of Slytherin' gloat about the inefficiency of my mother's sacrifice and how it was worthless. With that being the current state I clenched my jaw and gazed with unadulterated hatred at my capturers.

That monster touched my scar and I heard the hiss escape my mouth. I focused on the pain as a way to forget the situation but all it did was unleash a flood of memories. I remembered the cold nights spent in a freezing cupboard, the time Petunia pushed me down the steps, the pain I felt as I burned Quirrel to death with the power of my mother's blood sacrifice, the basilisk fang piercing me and sapping my life out of my body. _Its _hand left my scar but the memories still flooded my senses. The rush as I stabbed Riddle's diary, I drew some satisfaction from that memory of my tormenter's demise. I felt the memory of Quirrel and Voldemort's shrieks as I burned them within a hairsbreadth of the afterlife. I remember watching from the shadows as Fawkes butchered the eyes of Slytherin's great monstrosity, and I remembered stabbing the basilisk to death shortly after that. I remember the rush as my patrounus annihilated some three hundred dementors. And then I remembered I am alone and I smiled at that.

Voldemort seemed slightly unnerved by my smile but recovered face enough to tell me that no one was coming to save me. I couldn't help it, I laughed. He didn't understand at all. I was _**glad**_ no one was there to save me. Anyone who showed up then would be killed just like Cedric was.

Voldemort was outraged at my laughter and when I didn't answer his questions he launched a spell at me. I missed the name of it but the color was identical to the Crucio Moody cast on the spider. I felt the spell and the world filled with pain. As the pain leaves me I am reminded of the time Petunia had me try and jump-start the car. Actually that had been worse because the shock from the battery actually fried my hands and melted a patch of my shirt into my skin. I still don't know why Vernon believed that I tried to light myself on fire but I chalk it up to dearest Petunia's wild imagination and creative storytelling.

I was pulled out of that reverie by a high-pitched voice. The curse disoriented me because it took me a moment to remember what was going on before the curse hit me.

Then I remembered, I was alone, surrounded by enemies, bound to a tomb unarmed and injured. The realization wasn't particularly terrifying, looking back on life I realized that, for the most part, I do save myself. Escaping Riddle, Quirrel, Dementors, dragons, merpeople, and Dudley.

"_Dudley!_ "

I almost shouted as I remembered Harry hunting, how when I was 9 I accidentally apparated onto the school roof to escape. I desperately tried to remember how I achieved that feat. I had wanted to get away and I had looked at the school roof and... I was there. I frowned at the simplicity of it. Had it really been that simple? Did I just need to have a destination in mind and be determined enough to be there. I glanced over to look at Wormtail holding my wand about five paces away. I was ripped out of my thoughts as I hear Voldemort shouting a Crutiatous curse at me for my refusing to pay attention. In a split second decision I forced myself to apparate in a crouch in front of Wormtail as I heard the crack as the statue that had held me moments prior shatter from the impact of Voldemort's Crucio. I lunged from the ground and uppercutted Wormtail, who was already startled by my sudden appearance. After the punch connected I snatched my wand from his loosened grip and barreled through the death eaters and dived behind a large monument, just as a series of Green lights flew overhead. Voldemort's shout to seize me sent me into a cold sweat. I bolted to the side with speed I didn't know I had as the stone monolith exploded. I dodged and ran as I yelled every spell I could think of (Including those I only knew the names of) shooting at anything that moved. I didn't recognize most of the spells they used, but the ones I did left me in a perpetual state of terror. I rolled under a bolt of iron and jumped out of my roll to get over a wave of fire. I dodged out of the way of a hex but it exploded instead of continuing past me. The blast threw me into a cross shaped tombstone and knocked the wind out of me. A curse hit the tombstone I was leaning on and it exploded ripping holes through my robes and embedding shrapnel into my now bleeding back. I fell to the ground to avoid a trio of curses that emitted a roar as they passed overhead. I saw a Death Eater move to my left and I fired a cutting charm at him and watch in shock as his the white mask glowed and the spell was canceled on impact. Were I not rolling on the ground as he sent a series of silver razors at me I would have been impressed by what I now assume was a portable ward in the Death Eater masks. As the situation stood, I was trying to avoid being crushed by a freshly summoned Golem currently trying to hit me with earthen fists the size of couches. I cast a sideways glance to see Cedric's body as green lights shot at me from all directions and for the second time in two minutes I apparated, this time to Cedric's side. As I did I remembered a spell from my History of Magic class this year. The spell created by Reagis Visgar to slaughter the entire army of Lord Vicieux.

"Apotéfrosi óla Sárka, FIENDFYRE!"

When I asked Professor Bins about the spell he said it was a dangerous curse that required both emotion and power to summon and that the one using it often becomes consumed with the emotion used to summon it and was often consumed in the spell because they lacked the will to control it. I'd gone to the library that day in hopes that the spell might help against a dragon.

As I uttered the final two-syllables of the death sentence I knew what emotion to use and there was more than enough hate in me to power the spell. I watched the fire explode from my wand tip and I felt my own hate fusing into the monstrous flaming mass in front of me causing it to take form. The flaming Hydra that emerged attacked without hesitation and as I watched it incinerate the graveyard I was compelled to continue adding more memories and feelings until the beast held all my wrath.

It was only after the monster fully took form that I realized that I was loosing control. The spell latched onto me and drained me and pulled forth all of my darker feelings. Fear, Loneliness, and Desperation gripped me in the same way they do when I was surrounded by the dementors. That would probably be why in that moment of desperation I tried the one spell I know that actually protects someone from such a psychological attack. I yelled the incantation,

"Expecto Patronum!"

I didn't use a memory for it. No, I used the same thoughts that drove me to desperately try apparaition. I remembered my parents sacrifice, I remembered that no one would know that Voldemort was back unless I told them, I remembered that everyone I care about will die if they aren't warned, and that _I_ need to tell them, and to tell them I needed to _Survive!_

Given how 'different' my casting of the spell was I should have expected something other then prongs to blast out of my wand. However, I did not expect silver flames flow out of my wand and encase my body. Right after the flames appeared my Fiendfyre froze in place and dissapated. It was at this point that I realized I should have never even bothered trying to dispel my creation, as the moment I reined in my monster, I heard a high-pitched voice hiss one word into my ear.

"_Crucio_"

Then I collapsed in agony and screamed myself hoarse. When Voldemort ended his fun I was lying on top of Cedric's corpse coughing on my own blood.

As I looked up I saw the glint of the Triwizard Cup about 5 feet away. In a panicked effort to escape I screamed the summoning charm, the cup hurtled towards me. As I reached out to grab the portkey, Voldemort caused it to explode and I felt the metal fragments rip through my skin. Before I could cast another spell Voldemort summoned my wand out of my hand and snapped it. Staring into his eyes I felt fear overflow me like never before and I wished I could escape more than anything in the world. As he leveled his wand at me and began to intone the killing curse I'd wished I could have been anywhere else, even being stuck in my cupboard under the steps at Number 4 private drive. As I saw the green light of the curse race towards me and I closed my eyes waiting for the curse to hit me.

But it never did.

I opened my eyes and realized that it is dark and cramped. I tried to stand and hit my head, before tripping over something on the ground and falling into a wall, which swung out and opens. I fell onto the floor and from my position on the ground I heard an unmistakeable scream. I managed to get out a:

"Hello Aunt Petunia" just as the world went black.

And thats the last thing I remember" Harry finished

Albus Dumbledore was officially having his worst day in at least the past decade. Admittedly he had expected something. But the past four years since Harry's re-entry into the wizarding world had been completely ridiculous:

During Harry's first year, Voldemort possessed Quirrel and came within an arms-length of getting the Philosopher's Stone. Albus still had to suppress the urge to throttle Flamel whenever he saw the legendary Alchemist. Really what kind of man would lie to his colleague, trick him into putting a fake artifact inside a school at the risk of over three hundred childrens' lives? Well it worked, as much as Albus hated to admit it, it worked; and Tricky Nick was still the indisputable deceptive genius of the magical world.

Harry's second year, the Chamber of Secrets was opened _again_, and he had to spend most of the year hunting for Riddle looking for unknown passages in and out of the school and walking around the corridors with a rooster trying to kill the basilisk. Fawkes had one burning day every 503 years and he had to be on his period during the year he needed him to help find out if the chamber existed or if Riddle was in the school again. Then Cornelius and Lucius showed up and removed him from the school before he could finish searching for the chamber. He then spent the next few months in the back-room of the Hogshead with a time turner brewing _Felix Felicis_, before downing three times the recommended maximum dosage. Aberforth force fed him three bezoars, and luckily enough he recovered. To this day Albus was amazed at how he could find a loophole in any rule of magic. And so the end of the year concluded with his reinstallation, Harry luckily surviving a bite from a basilisk, no casualties, Hagrid getting a full pardon, Fawkes was reborn as a **female **pheonix, and if his most recent guess were correct then Tom's horcrux was destroyed.

Third year, Sirius Black escaped. Peter turned out to be a traitor. Fudge proved himself to be thoroughly in Death Eater pocketbooks. And of course no year was complete without losing a Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher. That wouldn't have been to bad had the teacher in question not been the first one to actually produce O students on the NEWT for the first time in four years.

Finally there was the past nine months of mayhem. Death Eater activity at the World Cup, hosting the Triwizard Tournament, the Wizengmont trying to get restrictive legislation through while the media was occupied, and disappearances of ex-order members and ministry officials. The finishing touch just had to be Tom's resurrection. As if that wasn't enough, Cedric Diggory was dead, and Fudge refused to even hear about the Voldemort's return.

It was about a half hour after Harry and Cedric's disappearance that the wards on Private Drive activated clueing Dumbledore into Harry's location. When he, Mad-Eye, Severus and Shacklebolt had arrived they found Petunia Dursely in the process of locking her injured nephew in a cupboard with the corpse of Cedric Diggory. What followed was chaos. Mad-Eye threw a Necrosis Curse at Albus, who instinctively sidestepped, causing the curse to hit Shacklebolt (who stopped it's effect by slicing off a chunk of his shoulder.) Snape stunned Petunia, and Albus hit Mad-Eye with a wandless banisher which knocked out the latter's fake eye and peg leg.

Following the brief confrontation, Mad-Eye(who proved to be Bartemis Crouch Jr.) and Harry were both interrogated, both under Veritaserum, in front of five Aurors and the Minister. Fudge promptly accused Harry and Bartemis of being insane and had the latter receive the Dementor's kiss.

After having dispatching Order members and Severus to their respective duties, Albus returned to Harry and with the youths' permission preceded to relive Harry's recollection via Legilimency. And now the Grand Mugwump was sitting in his office with a still injured Harry Reclined on a conjured couch while Fawkes healed the remaining injuries of the Boy-Who-Lived.

All things considered the Grand Sorcerer could honestly say he was justified when he reached into his desk pulled out a bottle of Cognac and conjured two glasses. Harry who was stretching his recently healed back looked over questioningly at the Aged man in front of him. In response the old man walked over and handed Harry the glass of liquor before walking over to an open window and letting out a sigh of exhaustion. After a few minutes of silence Albus turned to the raven-haired youth and spoke for the first time since their mental cross-examination began.

"Harry, you no doubt remember when you asked me in your first year why your parents where targeted by Voldemort"

Harry nodded mutely

"Well in truth there was no logical reason for Voldemort's attack that night; however, there is an extremely depressing explanation" Albus turned and stared very sternly into Harry's eyes "I will have to ask that you not interrupt me until I have finished, this is a painful story for me in more ways than you could imagine."

After Harry's nod of affirmation, Albus turned to the window and let out another long shuttering sigh before continuing

"I wasn't planning on telling you this until you were older; but, tonight's events have shown me that I was foolish to think you could ever have a happy childhood. I will start at the beginning, fifteen years ago when the war with Voldemort was still escalating. I was interviewing teachers for the open positions in an upstairs room at the Hogshead. I had almost finished with the interviews when I was interviewing Ms. Trelawney. I admit that the only reason I had even considered offering her the position because of her distant relative Cassandra Trelawney's notable skill. As our interview drew to a close, I was about to conclude that she was a fraud and end the interview there; however, fate had other plans. As the interview was ending Ms. Trelawney went into a trance and began to reveal a prophecy. As the prophecy started my brother Aberforth found Severus Snape eavesdropping outside the door threw the snooping young man out of the pub. Sadly, Severus had already heard a part of the prophecy and ran to his master. The segment of the prophecy that Severus told Tom was '_The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches...Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies..._' Now the full prophecy continued to state '_...and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not...and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives..._' When Tom heard the prophecy he deduced that there were only two children that fit the description. The first candidate was yourself and the second was your friend Neville Longbottom. When Severus found out that Voldemort intended to kill you and your family he rushed to me and begged me to protect your family offering anything in return for their safety. And that is when your parents went into hiding at Godric's Hollow, Severus became my spy, and the rest, as the muggles say is history. What the History books don't tell is that after that, on that fateful Hallows Eve, as your Father valiantly stalled Voldemort, your mother prepared an ancient blood magic ritual that, through the willing unnecessary sacrifice of her own life, she used to bind a shield into your very blood. When Voldemort's Avada Kadavra and your blood shield reacted and your skin split causing your uniquely marked face, as the wards on the house cascaded destroying everything but you. Following that, I placed you at your aunt's residence and tied the blood shield (which would have dissipated in a week had I not bound it to something more stable then your small and fragile body) to the blood of your aunt and by extension to all who lived at Number 4 Private Drive. The ward held because of love, not the love of your aunt, but the love of your mother. Your mother never truly could stop loving her family, before she went into hiding she tried desperately to get your aunt to flee the country or at least accept an emergency portkey. So I doubled the wards target and caused your mother's protection to feed off of your aunt's love for her son and husband and strengthen the protections on the house and on you. The ward is still strong because it must have nullified the anti-apparition ward around your house in order to let you apparate into that cupboard. That is the end of my story, a story about how in my foolishness, about how in my stupidity I left you alone with people who hated your mother, and about how I failed to protect you from Riddle by allowing a piece of prophecy to fall into that his hands."

Dumbledore turned around to face Harry looking like a truly beaten man. his shoulder's slumped, his face ruddy and glistening tears framed his dulled blue bloodshot eyes.

"There isn't a day that goes by that I don't feel regret for how I dealt with the whole prophecy debacle. I was blind, and the only thing left for me to tell you is that I am sorry"

Harry was in shock, there were no words to describe how torn he felt. One thought was to just nod dumbly, or to go to sleep and hope to never wake up, another much more appealing idea was to get up and smash everything in the office. However, before Harry acted on any action Fawkes let out a long sad trill, startling both the room's human occupants. Harry looked at Fawkes who had flown over to Dumbledore and was trying to cheer her chosen companion. The more Harry thought about it the clearer it became. Dumbledore had been trying to do right by Harry, granted the aged sorcerer had made some grievous mistakes. If what Albus said was true then he had made the mistakes with the best of intentions, and all the slights had been accidental.

"Prove it" Harry's voice came out colder than he had meant it to "Swear on your life and your magic that everything you just said was the truth"

Albus pulled out his wand and intoned "I, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, swear on my life and my magic that everything I have told Harry James Potter this night is the blatant, unabashed, uninhibited, and unaltered truth"

After a brief flash of golden light, Harry gave the old man a small half smile.

"I guess I would be the biggest hypocrite on Earth if I didn't forgive you, who didn't mean to hurt me, after I already forgave Ron, who consciously meant to hurt me with his words and actions."

For the first time that night the twinkle returned to Dumbledore's eyes.

"Even if I forgive you I still have a question"

"Ask away Harry"

"Why did Professor Snape care about my family if he hated my dad, and how do you know you can trust him" Dumbledore smiled

"As sharp as ever Harry, well I would like to tell you that he had a change of heart but I think we both know better. No, I am afraid that the truth is actually a far more dissatisfying answer. You see, when Severus came to me on that night all those years ago I swore an unbreakable oath to never reveal his reasons for his betraying Voldemort. But, if it is any consolation Harry I can tell you that I made him swear an unbreakable oath of loyalty to me, so that he cannot willfully betray me no matter the circumstance. But, he might tell you his reasons Harry, if you ask him when you do not resemble your father"

Harry was about to try and push Dumbedore for more information after receiving that cryptic hint but decided against it.

"Now Harry, I know you've had a rough night but I have a small favor to ask you"

"Certainly sir, what do you need"

"Well, I would be most grateful if you didn't tell anyone that you and I were drinking in my office, Cornelius is in a state as it is and the last thing we need is for me to be accused of getting my students drunk in my office."


	2. Awakening the Apprentice

{Chapter 2: Awakening the Apprentice}

Harry Potter, Triwizard Champion, Basilisk Slayer, Boy-Who-Lived, was woken up in the office of Professor Dumbledore after sleeping for three hours by the sound of potions master Severus Snape tumbling out of the fireplace.

"Albus…" the gasping plea was followed by a hacking cough that left blood dripping from the spy's lips.

Dumbledore crossed the room from his desk and dropped onto his left knee and gingerly pulled the injured man into his arms. Harry leapt off the couch as Albus levitated the injured man over.

"Harry get me the blue-green potion labeled ATACSL3from the top right drawer of my desk, the silver engraved dagger in the tan leather box on top of the desk and open the bottom drawer of the third cabinet from the left behind my desk."

The groggy youth leapt to the desk and opened the top right drawer revealing at least 200 potions on spread over 5 separate shelves! After shaking himself briefly he grabbed the appropriate vial, whipped open the tan leather box and snatched the dagger, and wrenched open the bottom drawer of the third cabinet before subsequently dropping to the ground as 3 vials, a mortar and a pestle flew out of the opened drawer into Dumbledore's waiting hands.

Harry handed the potion and dagger to Dumbledore and watched in awe as the elder wizard deftly poured the potion into the mortar added the ingredients of the three other vials in carefully matched portions removed with practiced ease. Then, while grinding the ingredients together with rhythmic motion, the sorcerer began to chant in a deep rumbling chant. Heat filled the room and it felt like Harry was underwater. As Dumbledore continued to chant he immersed his left palm in the swirling black mass, he summoned several bluebell flames and attached them to Snape's robe, burning away his clothes exposing a deep jagged diagonal gash across his chest. Then, Albus gripped the dagger in his right hand he carved several intricate runes into Severus' exposed chest. Finally, Dumbledore ceased chanting and took a deep breath and slammed his left palm against Snape's bleeding chest causing pale blue light to explode out of Snape's eyes, ears nose and mouth. After several moments of Snape screaming all was silent. A thoroughly shaken Dumbledore stumbled back to his desk and slumped into the chair.

Harry, who was getting over the shock of watching the ritual, looked dumbly between a now unharmed sleeping Snape and an exhausted Dumbledore. After, a few quite moments Harry asked the question.

"What just happened"

"I healed Severus"

"I understood that much, I meant how did what you did heal Professor Snape? And why couldn't Fawkes heal him"

"Fawkes' tears could not have healed Severus' wounds, because of the link he has with Riddle through the Dark Mark on his arm"

"But I thought the Mark was just a tattoo linked with a variant protean charm linking them all together"

Dumbledore sighed tiredly

"Unfortunately, Riddle was not that benign in his designing the Dark Mark. The Dark Mark itself must be taken intentionally and without coercion, meaning the bearer must choose to swear loyalty to whoever administers the Dark Mark. After that the Dark Mark blemishes the bearer's soul before manifesting as a visible indicator of their sin. The Dark Mark then becomes parasitic and after the initial branding the bearer begins to feed their psychological and magical being to the one who administered the brand. After a time the Marked person feeds their entire mental and magical capacities to their master. The branded person, while still human, is mentally and magically dependent on their master's will."

After a few moments of shocked silence Harry regained his voice.

"So the Dark Marks fuel Voldemort's magic?"

Dumbledore nodded

"And Snape is going to become a magic-less puppet?"

"Professor Snape, Harry. And no, he will not become a magic-less puppet because Tom feeds the Marked Death Eaters his own magic, and that is why Severus would be unaffected by Fawkes' tears. The two magics will not react if they come in contact."

"But if he wanted to, he could make Professor Snape a squib"

Dumbledore again nodded sadly.

"So, why couldn't Vodemort control the Proffesor's mind as well as his magic?"

"Because Severus is a master Ocllums, and can block out the mental drain of the Mark"

Harry sat down on a chair across the desk from Albus

"So… Fawkes' tears wouldn't work because Professor Snape is using Voldemort's magic?"

"Correct, and the ritual I just used to heal your beloved Potions Instructor was a far less pleasant, very painful, and extremely draining method of healing someone who may or may not have extremely dark magic corrupting them."

"Got it, can I ask another question"

"Well I am sure you can, and of course you may"

"Thank you, The question I wanted to ask why you couldn't summon the dagger and the potion in your desk drawer like you did the other ingredients."

"Nothing ever escapes your notice, does it Harry" Harry flushed slightly at the compliment

"The reason I couldn't summon the objects in question is because of the enchantments placed on them specifically an anti-summon and summon triggered vanishing charm on the potion bottle, and the runes on the dagger prevent any magical interaction."

"Sir, if it's no trouble to you, could you tell me _**why**_ there is an anti-summon triggered vanishing charm on the potion bottle." Dumbledore gave Harry a piercing look

"Harry the nature of some things we have already discussed since you woke up is such that if it were revealed that we were discussing it. Then, we would most likely be fined and given matching cells in Azkaban, for a period of no less than 12 months." Harry took that moment to do what any somewhat normal person of approximately fourteen years does when told they are in danger of going to a maximum-security cell for at least a year with the definite assurance of being totally at the nonexistent mercy of the soul-sucking demonic prison guards, he panicked. Harry Potter paled rapidly, tensed visibly, his pupils dilated rapidly and he lost the capacity speak coherently. Finally, after several brief but terrifying moments he regained control of the spoken English language to ask the obvious question.

"Why?"

"Very simply we were discussing the creation and implication of Category-A forbidden magic. There is only one reason we could conceivably have for discussing the intricate nature of spells like the Dark Mark. Can you guess what that reason is Harry?"

"To counter the effects or destroy it"

"Correct, but since the ministry's current stance is that Voldemort and his Dark Mark are gone, they could prosecute you for investigating, and myself for teaching and encouraging your study of Black Magic."  
"But, I didn't want to study it…I just-just…"Dumbledore interrupted

"I am aware of your motivations, Harry. I also trust you not to abuse my trust by sharing this information; however, I wanted to make sure you understood exactly how dangerous it is for you to know about these magics."

"I…I think I can understand sir. And I can understand if you can't or don't want to…" Once again, He was interrupted by the Headmaster.

"Of course I want to teach you Harry, I just wanted you to understand that the things I am telling you require that you keep secrets. Can you understand that?"

"Of course sir"

"Good. Now, about that summon triggered vanishing charm on the potions bottle. Before I continue would you care to guess why I wouldn't want the bottle to be summon-able?"

"Because…you wouldn't want somebody else to gain possession of it"

"Correct, and why wouldn't I want someone to be able to summon a particular potion?"

"Because it is either valuable or dangerous…" briefly Harry remembered Norbert "…or forbidden"

"Right again Harry. Yes, the potion you fetched for me and the ritual I performed are both borderline at best in regards to their legality. The ritual is only prohibited because the potion is forbidden. And can you guess why the potion is forbidden" It was almost like a potions lecture; sans pain, humiliation and insults.

"The ingredients sir"

"Yes Harry, the ingredients, more specifically the central ingredient." At that moment Dumbledore reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a small bottle of silvery blue liquid and placed it on the desk, Harry's eyes widened in recognition.

"_Unicorn Blood_" he gasped, as causing Dumbledore to nod sagely.

"Yes, one of my lesser known experiments during my time with Nicholas Flamel was one on the purification of Unicorn blood" Dumbledore placed the bottle back in the drawer and closed it.

"During the experiments we found many variant ways of extracting healing essence from the blood, none of the extractions retained unicorn bloods primary quality-"

"Immortality"

"Yes, very fortunate thing too or we would have a great many more problems then we already possess"

"But why bother with the healing rituals if you had Fawkes" The phoenix in question trilled in response

"Fawkes does offer a much preferred method of healing but phoenix tear healing does have limitations. The first being that phoenixes cannot and will not cry on command, the second is that even if they could cry on command the tears themselves use the phoenixes' stored magic; and a phoenix's magical core, even though it rapidly regenerates, is not infinite." In the brief pause which followed Snape began to stir.

"I believe we shall have to postpone this discussion till a later date I have a feeling Severus will have a great deal to report" Harry took that as a hint to leave and began to do so when Dumbledore stopped him.

"I believe it would be best for you to stay here and hear whatever it is Severus has to report as it will most likely have something to do with you. I will have to ask that you not interrupt Severus' report and that any questions you have you hold until after he leaves"

After a nod of assent, Dumbledore disillusioned Harry and ushered him out of what would be Snape's line of sight. With a last glance at Harry, Dumbledore walked over to the couch holding the spy and gently shook the man.

"Headache potion...Numbing Charm on my chest..." Albus chuckled as he summoned the potion, and cast the charm.

"Just like last time isn't it Severus?" the younger man grunted as he blinked open his bloodshot eyes.

"I had hoped last time would be the _last_ time" the aged Headmaster smiled gently

"Well, with you spying for me hopefully we can conclude this war more quickly than the last one"

Snape's lips quirked up slightly

"From what I just witnessed I think we are well positioned to eliminate the Dark Lord's forces before they have reassembled"

"You are ready to deliver your report then?" Snape nodded

"Start when ready Severus" Albus summoned the chair from his desk and sat down next to the couch.

"When I apparated to the Dark Lord the first thing that happened was I was hit with a Crucio, a cutting hex, and a bone-breaker. What followed was the expected interrogation of my actions for the past thirteen years and an in depth torture session to ensure I was telling the truth. After deciding I was of more use alive I was allowed to cast a temporary stasis charm on my chest, the Dark Lord said the pain would remind me to be prompt in future summonings. Then, I was allowed to see the rest of my old comrades. Imagine my surprise when I walk into a room filled with dead and injured Death Eaters. The Dark Lord ordered me to brew the usual set of potions. When I asked what happened to the injured forces I recieved a Crucio and a bone-breaker for my curiosity. That's when the Dark Lord left and I went through the Death Eaters to find someone to tell me what the state of the troops was. As it turns out Goyle was one of the only ones unscathed. He evasively answered my questions, but a few silent persuasion charms and mild Legimency and his mind _showed_ me everything." Severus stopped and gave Dumbledore a hard look

"I wont talk to you about what happened until _after_ you look at that memory"

As he spoke Snape tapped his wand to his head and pulled out a long silver strand and gestured to the lower left cabinet behind the headmasters desk.

"After I extracted _this _from Goyle I checked two of the other surviving Death Eaters for details. Both provided near identical recounts of the incident."

The older wizard merely nodded, walked over to the cabinet and pulled out a pensive which he deposited on the desk.

"If you would, Severus"

Snape rose walked over to the desk and placed the silvery strand into the pensive. Harry then watched as the two older wizards entered the pensive. After a few long quite minutes both were released from the pensive memory, Albus looking slightly conflicted and Severus appeared to be very perturbed.

"Very well Severus was there anything else that happened?"

"Yes, just as I was leaving I received the order that I should try and kill Potter if the opportunity presents itself"

"I am afraid I can't allow that Severus"

"I hadn't expected you to be very enthusiastic about the idea. I had hoped we could stage a few botched attempts so that I could have something to tell the Dark Lord"

"I'll consider it" Harry almost screamed at that.

"So the answer is no"

"I don't think he would respond well at the moment, but maybe next semester" Once again, Harry barely restrained himself from shouting in response to the way the conversation seemed to be headed.

"Fine, we can discuss that later Albus"

"Yes I doubt that discussion would be the best use of our time at present"

"If you are through with me then I have to go start brewing the potions for the next time I'm summoned"

"Yes the interrogation is over. If you feel well enough then you can leave"

Severus turned and walked to the door before stopping.

"What do you plan to do with the boy?"

Albus smiled kindly

"I always knew you cared for him" Snape turned around sharply to face the smiling man.

"You know full well I do _not _care about Potter's spawn" Dumbledore merely frowned in response.

"You also know that you can't put him back with _that_ women"

"Yes I am now aware of exactly how unfit the Dursley's were to be Harry's guardians. Honestly, I was considering taking him on as my apprentice" Harry was totally and utterly dumbfounded

"Albus...are you seriously considering..." Snape's expression was a mixture of shock, surprise and revulsion.

"Of course, I wouldn't say something like that in jest Severus."

"Of course..." Severus turned and stumbled out the door without another word.

After they were alone Dumbledore removed the disillusionment charm on a stunned Harry.

"I apologize Harry, I did not plan on Severus conducting most of his report within the pensive"

Unable to contain his curiosity Harry blurted out the expected question.

"Sir, where you serious? About you considering making me your apprentice?"

Albus chuckled

"Of course I'm not considering it." If Harry had been stunned before it didn't begin to compare with what he was currently feeling; which felt like shock, sadness, and rejection.

"I have already finished considering it. I have now resolved to ask if you would accept the position of being my apprentice." Harry's emotions rebounded from the pits of despair to the height of euphoria in a second.

"Me…learning about magic…from you?" Harry asked breathlessly

"Not just learning _about_ magic, Harry." Dumbledore said with a glint in his eye"Learning the natural sciences, mathematics, history, language, and philosophy. Mastering the subtle arts of potions and alchemy, refining charms and transfiguration to their purest states. There is more to magic then spells, formulas and theories, and there is oh so much more to the world then magic and science!"

Finally, Harry gained control of his confused mind.

"When can we start?"

Dumbledore looked Harry in the eyes and the glint in the blue eyes receded and Harry looked into twin ominous tunnels that seemed to travel far deeper then any eyes.

"Understand this Harry" The voice was Dumbledore's but it was far less warm and inviting then his jovial tone and it was deeper and heavier then usual. The words echoed in Harry's head and shook him to his core.

"If you accept this bond you are mine, you will learn from me until either you have reached the level I deem fit or until I die. You will surrender your worldly possessions, your freedom, and your rights until our link is destroyed. You will not be able to leave this bond by any means other then death. You will be required to obey any order I give you and unable to kill me unless I willingly tell you to do so. You will learn things that will shake your worldview, and you will suffer because of it. If you accept the bond you will receive my protection, my knowledge, my honesty, and my power. You will become my heir, and when you are ready I will step away and surrender everything I have. So I swear it. Do you accept?"

As Harry listened he felt a pressure on him that could be best compared with having ones own skin shrink, while their insides grew. He knew when he spoke it would be the end one way or another.

"YES"

He hadn't meant to shout. As the word left his mouth he felt his own magic explode out of his body and he felt himself falling and for a brief moment everything was black. As soon as the darkness settled and everything was still he felt pain unimaginable and the world was on fire and freezing at the same time then as quickly as the pain appeared it vanished. He snapped his eyes open and looked up into the eyes of the man standing over him. It was then he realized he was kneeling. Dumbledore smiled and offered a hand to the younger man kneeling on the ground.

"Shall we begin…Apprentice?"


	3. Training, ThinkTalking, and Trouble

{Chapter 3: Training, Think-Talking, and Trouble}

Harry lay face down on the cold stones of the Room of Requirement in exhaustion. His body screamed at him his skin burned and itched, his bones ached and his joints burned, his vision blurred without his glasses on and every muscle in his body begged him to just die there. Harry heard footsteps walking towards him and he tightened the deathgrip his left hand had on his wand as the footsteps stoped next to his head and he prayed he would just pass out there.

"Get up." The order reached his ears and he stifled a groan as he pulled himself to his feet.

"Start Over." At his tormenter's command he felt the slab of stone beneath him lurch upwards travelling rapidly towards the vaulted ceiling high above. He leapt off the slab just before it impacted, the moment he was clear of the stone he was hit with a bludgeoning hex which impacted into his leg with a crack sending him toppling head over heals diagonally into the nearest wall. Even with a hastily cast cushioning charm applied Harry had the wind knocked out of him. Continuing his freefall another three meters to the ground, he did a mid-air dodge to avoid what might have been a banisher, before conjuring a tree stump to block an incoming fireball. Avoiding impact with the ground by transfiguring the burning stump into a trampoline and levitating it between himself and the nasty spike that was growing out of the stone floor. The trampoline launched Harry across the room towards his tormenter but was caught by a giant rubber rope, which wrapped around his leg and slammed him into the ground. Dulling the impact by summoning acushion of pressurized air_,_ he vanished the rope and rapidly fired several piercing hexes at his opponent, he felt a person appear behind him and sidestepped the bludgeoner cast by the aggressor only to be hit with a banisher-powered kick to his ribs that sent him toppling to the ground sideways. Before he even reached the ground a second banisher hit him, accelerating his rapid approach to the ground. A sickening crunch accompanied his impact with the stone floor. Rolling out of instinct he escaped certain death from the _confringo _which decimated the ground he had been on moments before_. _He attempted to launch a wave of fire at his opponent as he scrambled to his feet, only to be forced dive-roll out of the way of thousands of stone shards, and use a _Carpe Retractum _to soar up into the rafters up in the vault. From his higher ground Harry conjured and hurled boulders at the ground below. Harry's offensive ended as bolts of lightning cut and blasted the rafters to pieces causing the roof above Harry to come crashing down. Harry vanished the part of the roof that would have crushed him but broke one of his legs when he landed on the ground. Summoning a segment of the broken rafter to intercept a cutting magical wave, he quickly splinted and numbed his leg before levitating the sheet of stone beneath him off the ground and using it like a flying carpet to dodge the incoming spell-fire. Directing his ride towards the hole in the ceiling Harry got to the lip of the hole before his stone steed was shattered in an explosion of shrapnel which sliced, puncture, and mangled his legs. Luckily the blast gave him enough of a boost to reach the edge of the ceiling. Doing a desperate pull up Harry scrambled onto the roof above the Room of Requirement, which incidentally was a dome of polished stone. Harry was about to heal his destroyed legs when several blades of fire cut out a large segment of the roof. Unfortunately Harry was on that segment of roof and he found himself falling again. In an act of desperation Harry banished the giant segment of roof beneath him at where he assumed his opponent was standing, in doing so he failed to do anything to break his fall. As a result Harry's freefall ended in a very painful collision with the shrapnel covered stone floor. Turning to see if he had hit his target, he was shocked to find that the other combatant was levitating the giant stone segment of the domed roof effortlessly with his left hand.

"Enough." Dumbledore shouted, tossing the segment of roof back up to the ceiling where it reattached itself, he walked over to his fallen apprentice and fixed the worst of the boy's injuries before tossing a blood replenishing potion at the still spread eagled youth.

"Come along Harry you can't sleep your life away"

The exhausted youth gulped down the potion, pulled himself to his feet and followed the elder wizard out of the room.

This was combat training: fight until your defeated, permanently. That meant total defeat. Stunners wouldn't help in this type of fight. Harry had learned the hard way that apparently Dumbledore was resistant to stunners, and that the same was true of Voldemort and other wizards of greater than average power it would take about the same number of stunners to knock out Dumbledore that it would take to beat a half giant, approximately 3 fired simultaneously or 7 in quick succession.

"Sir, Can I have my glasses back now?" He asked as they walked down toward the steps.

"Oh, sorry Harry I almost forgot about them" Dumbledore said as he handed the glasses to his apprentice.

"What was the point of me carving anti-summon runes or applying anti-summon charms on these things if you can summon them anyway."

"If I had cast a summoning charm it would have worked Harry, no need to be discouraged. But, if you are fast enough with a silent levitation charm it works as well and any _accio_, I was actually surprised that you hadn't warded against that" for the umpteenth time that day Harry wanted to curse the injustice of having to match wits against this man.

As he followed Dumbledore down the still moving staircase Harry transfigured and cleaned his clothes. By the time the two walked into the great hall Harry had managed to cast a full body cleaning charm, healed his cuts and bruises, and had fixed his hair. The now clean young man followed his master to the single table in the center of the hall, waited for the aged man to offer him his seat, and finally for the first time in eight hours he sat down. The following meal was like all their others: totally silent. Any and all conversation was done through wandless Legilimency. As a result the first week in a half of conversation had been decidedly one-sided.

The past seven weeks had been different from anything Harry had expected. The day he accepted his apprenticeship, his life changed.

Immediately following the bonding, Dumbledore had pulled Harry to his feet, given the youth a spare wand and ordered him to show him every spell he knew. After the following display of textbook charms, transfigurations, and hexs; Dumbledore frowned and simply asked: "Is that it?"

'Yes sir' was apparently the wrong answer. What followed could best be described as humiliating. Dumbledore rattled off every spell covered at Hogwarts in all his classes from first through fourth year. The score of Harry's cumulative exam: forty-eight percent of spells were remembered; of those he could cast thirty percent without prompting. Harry also knew thirty spells not covered in the mandatory school texts. The next twenty-nine straight hours were spent relearning every spell Harry hadn't remembered. From the juvenile nose itch jinx, to the inane turtle to tapioca transformation. After nineteen sleepless hours Harry finally mustered the courage to ask why he needed to know the spells.

"Why, Harry? Your asking why you need to know magic?"

"No, I am asking why I need to know _**this**_ magic" Dumbledore frowned

"'_**This **_Magic' is the basic foundation of your ability to wield any magic at all. Do you think Hogwarts teaches these spells because they are practical, because they are fighting spells? Of course not! _Wingardium Leviosa_ is far to long an incantation to have any battlefield use, _Alohomora_ can't unlock enchanted chains, These spells only exist to condition the wizard to cast magic. The wand movements for such simple spells only illustrate the flow of magic and make it even easier to perform. The words are designed to force students to speak with proper diction and to firmly link the magic with the effect in their mind. True battle spells are either chants or they are silent, only incompetent or arrogant wizards would say a spell incantation in battle! The reason you need this practice is because in order to master spells you will need to be able to go beyond just following a prescribed formula designed to teach the spell on a beginner level."

Harry had promptly shut up and worked feverishly at mastering all the remaining spells after that.

After he had 'caught up' on his spellwork, Dumbledore introduced the new and improved work-week. A normal week consists of 168 hours, with Dumbledore's adjustments the week would now consist of 217 hours. Dumbledore's time-turner contained sands of time, rare jewels the size of table sugar that could charge enough energy to force a being through time-space, there was only enough sand within the time-turner to send someone back 7 hours, after which the sands would need to charge for one full revolution of the earth on its axis.

"Six pence for your thoughts Harry?" Dumbledore's voice whispered softly against the Harry's developing Occlumency barriers disrupting the young man's reverie.

"Just remembering the first day of training. It feels like years already" Harry replied looking into the older man's eyes. While Dumbledore could send a mental message to Harry without eye contact, Harry still required that the other recipient of his messages look him in the eye.

"Yes, I am glad that we are past that stage in your development."

"I wasn't that bad"

"You couldn't cast non-verbally, you had to go through the wand movements of first-year spells, and you where still wearing rags even though you were a fourth-year transfiguration student."

"Okay….I was that bad, sue me"

"I won't need too, the way the news looks we will both probably be tried with a nonsense charge of inciting a public panic." Dumbledore replied, as he wandlessly levitated a newspaper into Harry's waiting hand. After briefly skimming through the pages Harry tried to wandlessly banish the paper into the fireplace on the other side of the room, sadly the paper only traveled half the distance before it crash landed on the floor.

"You need to work on that" Dumbledore stated in a matter of fact voice.

"Probably" Harry replied "You know what that newspaper needs? A comics section, or at the least some political cartoons"

"Yes I was always fascinated by that marvelous bit of muggle creativity"

"It would be a whole lot better than the trash they're printing now…I feel like my uncle, sitting around, whining about how the government is going to the dogs"

"Don't worry, it isn't just the government Harry"

"Oh, that _is_ comforting"

"If you want some good solid journalism try this…" Dumbledore banished a magazine at Harry's face. Catching the paper before it hit he looked at the cover.

"The Quibbler?"

"It's as close to an honest news source as you can get in the wizarding world."

"'Fudge eats goblin pies' Do you think we could get him out of office if we proved that?"

"Probably not, you will notice that article is a theory and it is purely conjecture based on loose evidence, the completely factual reports are marked as such"

"'22 Goblins missing from Gringots wardbreaking team' 'lowest werewolf activity in past 6 years' 'Vampires leave colony and go overseas to Argentine Magical Union' What does the Quibbler say about it"

"Either Department of Mysteries cover-up, or a maneuver by the Rotfang's preparing to eliminate any vampire opposition on the British Isles. The question is Harry, What do you think is going on"

"I think…No, I know it's Riddle"

"Probably, though I wouldn't eliminate Department of Mysteries as an option just yet"

"I just think that with goblin ward-masters Voldemort would make to break out his supporters in Azkaban, most of the wards there are goblin cast. In fact the entire island was the property of the Goblin Nation until the Goblin War of 1895"

"That was my guess as well."

"SO WHY DON'T WE DO SOMETHING!" Harry yelled in his mind

"Because there is nothing we can do. Chances are that if it is a plan to break out the faithful DeathEaters in Azkaban it will be done by tommorow. Not everyone in the Ministry is as incompetent as Cornelius. Amelia Bones, the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, is already aware of Voldemort's return, that he is trying to rally troops, and I know Amelia is aware of the possibility that Azkaban will be attacked, The goblins vanished yesterday. If my theory is correct then Amelia has been trying to fortify Azkaban all day, no doubt being blocked by Fudge every step of the way. Tom has to attack tonight, if he doesn't then Amelia will fortify Azkaban and by daybreak Azkaban will be impenetrable."

"and _when_ he attacks tonight?"

"The dementors will join him, the Aurors will be overrun, the most loyal and fanatical living DeathEaters will be free once again, the Ministry will not do anything to resolve the issue after the breakout, and as a result the prison of Azkaban will no longer be a practical method of restraining captured criminals. Before you ask, No we cannot do anything because all it would achieve would be matching cells at best and death at worst. If we arrived at Azkaban uninvited, the moment we arrived we would be attacked, stunned, and incarcerated. When Tom arrives we would be totally at his nonexistent mercy. You and I are both under heavy scrutiny. If we try or even say something about a break-into Azkaban to anyone at the Ministry, we would be arrested and blamed for the following break-in. If we arrive when Tom does we will be kissed by his dementors or killed in the firefight, and while there are ways to kill a dementor, I wouldn't advise trying it while breaking into their nest and simultaneously fighting off over four score of Dark Magic fanatics."

Harry would have slumped into his chair in defeat had Dumbledore's painful etiquette lessons not demanded he remain totally poised at all times.

"Right, another point to Riddle. I guess the most important thing I learned in this little exercise is that if I want obscure unreported facts go to the Quibbler but read it with a grain of salt."

"Correct, but I gave you that paper because of the Runes Crossword on the back page. It is as close to newspaper comics as your going to get I'm afraid."

"Great. And I am awful at runes so that is just wonderful"

"Come now, Harry you aren't that bad"

"I got a P on the last exam you gave me."

"Ah yes, I know it is a little late to tell you this but the test I gave you was a copy of the Ancient Runes OWL."  
Thanks to his Occlumency barriers and the extensive training in masking emotions that Dumbledore was continuously putting him through, Harry managed to keep his face blank.

"You gave me an Ancient Runes OWL, and I got better than a Troll"

"Correct, and it was borderline with Acceptable but I didn't think it would be Right to give you any leeway. Considering you only started your intensive runes study five weeks ago you ought to be proud of yourself. "

Their mental exchange ended as Severus Snape came crashing through the doors.

"ALBUS" He shouted walking past Harry to Dumbledore. "Albus, he broke them out, the Lestranges, Dolohov, Jugson, Mulciber, Rookwood, Travers, they're all free!"

"Are any of them maimed, approaching death, or insane. "

"Sadly not enough to permanently incapacitate any of them."

"Pity" Harry said airily

"Quite" Dumbledore agreed

"Can you two be serious, what are we going to do" Snape snapped

"Right, better notify the Order" Albus said calmly

"On it, DOBBY!" Harry shouted moments later Dobby appeared with a crack.

"Harry Potter Sir Called" Dobby said as Harry finished writing on a piece of conjured paper, which he then duplicated thirty times.

"Can you deliver these Dobby, its important?"

Dobby nodded his head so fast that it looked like it was about to fall off. After telling the eccentric elf the Order Members Names, Dobby vanished with a crack.

"Right! On to dessert" Harry said calmly walking back to the table.

"Care to join us Severus" Dumbledore said to the anxious potions master

"We have lemon-mango smoothies" Harry added

"I'll pass, I'm feeling nauseous" Snape said leaving quickly

"More for us" Harry and Dumbledore thought in unison

Snape continued out of the hall muttering about fruity insane headmasters, annoying teenagers, and bloody muggles and their insistence on blending anything they found into a drink.


	4. Tricks, Tools, and Talks

{Chapter 4: Tricks, Tools, and Talks}

Harry looked into his trunk and looked at the few items in it. Harry could definitely be described as frugal, his worldly possessions amounted to: One Broomstick with care kit(shrunken), One Photo Album, One Invisibility Cloak, One owl cage(shrunken), One set of fifth year texts, One hand carved wooden flute, One ceremonial dagger, One potions set with silver cauldron(shrunken), One copy of Quidditch through the ages, and One telescope(also shrunken). As he looked at his single sets of Dress Robes, Quidditch robes, brewing robes, dragon hide gloves and his single school uniform, He realized exactly how little non-transfigured clothing he possessed. Living with Dumbledore changes how one looks at worldly possessions.

When Dumbledore grew up his family was less than well off, as a result Albus and his brother Aberforth both mastered the art of permanent transfiguration early on. "Why should you spend money on new school robes if you could enlarge them just enough to fit like a tailored suit?" Dumbledore explained that most wizards bought things like clothes because their control of transfiguration was too pathetic, or they have more money than they do sense.

Harry no longer carried kept crystal vials for potions as Dumbledore insisted they make their own with alchemy and or transfiguration. "Why carry around fragile glass objects if you can create them from sand or soil with a single motion? Besides, a little practice keeps you from getting rusty."

Looking at his few books he smiled, thanks to Dumbledore he had no need for his earlier year texts, and he only needed the fifth year texts for completing written assignments in the upcoming year. Now that he thought about it the only book written in English that he had opened in the past week was Dumbledore's handwritten journal on translating Mayan runes.

As Harry wandlessly levitated his remaining luggage into his trunk he began trying to come up with a workable solution for his most recent dilemma, what was he going to wear for the next month? Harry wanted to laugh at the irony of it all, he was worth six hundred thousand galleons, and he had been wearing the same clothes for over two months. Of course that wasn't a problem after he had practiced a few transfigurations and charms but if he was going to be living with people other than Dumbledore he couldn't have anyone seeing him do underage magic, even if he could get away with it someone would probably notice how he never had any dirty clothes. The only non-school related clothing he had was the clothes on his back, one of Mrs. Weasley's jumpers and an invisibility cloak. Luckily, Harry's musings where interrupted by Albus Dumbledore's unannounced arrival.

"All packed Harry?"

"Almost" He said as the last sentimental object he had jumped into his trunk.

"How do you think Sirius and the Weasley's would feel about me only wearing an invisibility cloak around my waist for the next month?"

"I think that both Sirius and young Ginevra would be very pleased for very different reasons" Dumbledore replied dryly "luckily for you I decided to prevent such a situation"

"Really you mean you didn't incinerate _all _of Dudley's old clothing in front of the Dursleys a few weeks back?" Harry replied with a smirk.

"You shouldn't use that look Harry, you'll grow up to look like Lucius. No I was not referring to those rags your Aunt 'generously allowed you to wear'" Dumbledore enlarged a bag and banished it into Harry's open hands "Due to your status as my apprentice, and due to the vast improvements in your physique, I took the liberty of getting you some appropriate clothing."

Harry was speechless.

"Thank you"

He barely managed to keep his voice from cracking, He was still absolutely awful at dealing with expressions of gratitude. Dumbledore smiled. Harry regained some of his composure and couldn't help his next question.

"But I thought you didn't want me wasting money on clothing that I didn't need" Dumbledore chuckled

"True, I didn't want you _**wasting**_ money. But, if I gave it to you as a gift it's not waste, it's an expression of affection and appreciation. Besides my being a sentimental these are also a practical necessity. Now why don't you try them on?"

With a new spring in his step Harry walked over to the mirror to look at his new clothing. Dumbledore was not exaggerating Harry's improvements. Over the past two in a half months (closer to three and a quarter thanks to the time turner) Harry had been put through the most strenuous exercise of his life, running twenty kilometers along the lake shore, swimming back across, doing pushups and sit-ups while simultaneously levitating boulders wandlessly, and lastly Dueling Dumbledore, which was by far the most dangerous and draining exercise ever invented. They had begun dueling on the grounds two weeks ago, lest they accidentally injure someone passing the Room of Requirement, this was because Dumbledore fired a bolt of lightening through the door and taking out the door frame and most of the wall in the process. In their first duel outside on the grounds Dumbledore used the lake to summon a Tsunami, which decimated the battleground and Harry, who's shield barely saved his life.

Part of Harry's new physique was probably helped by Harry's liberal use of borderline legal nutrient potions in conjunction with Dumbledore's definitely illegal homemade cocktail of purified unicorn blood, dragons blood and phoenix tears mixed in with a small pieces of uncooked basilisk muscle(marinated in Cognac a light tomato sauce at low heat it hadn't tasted half bad.)

Still, regardless of the method, the results where decidedly impressive.

Harry now stood at just 180centimeters(not tall by any stretch but it was a definite improvement over being little under 160), with sinewy muscles, several scars bigger then any a 15 year old should ever see, let alone have. And the final contribution was eyes unobstructed by glass capable of viewing things as small as .1 nanometer, able to view things in twenty-one vision, totally unaffected by darkness.

"Please don't be flamboyant beyond all natural reason. " Harry said just loudly enough for Dumbledore to hear, before reaching into the bag and pulling out the first article of clothing. A black shirt, it felt like a cross between silk and spandex sewn around very thin pads designed to cover the chest stomach, shoulders and back.

"Body armor. Custom made, two layers of acromantula silk interwoven with manticore leather. It seems like a regular piece of clothing now, but when it touches your skin it uses the your magic to make a strong armor, it causes spells to dissipate over the entirety of the armor when they impact so that curse damage is minimized or eliminated. It's not dragon hide mind you, but it can stop a blade, fits like a second skin and it's totally unnoticeable under regular clothing since it looks like a simple undershirt, there are also matching pants and gloves. Since the armor works off your magic, any charm you use on it will be completely effective and the only spells that will alter it are those cast by the wearer. I expect you to put that suit to good use, it cost more than one hundred thousand galleons for the full set. Other then that, there are just a pair of trousers, a pair of 'jeans' I believe they're called, one black turtleneck, a polo, two T-shirts, a jacket, and a pair of wire frame glasses with unbreakable faux-glass in them, to prevent anyone from noticing your new vision. If you don't like the colors of your clothes then you know how to change them."

Harry was thunderstruck for a few moments before he found his voice.

"Sir…this is too much, I can't accept…" Dumbledore's glare halted Harry's objections

"You can, you will, and I'll make it an order if you persist with your objections" Dumbledore said calmly. Harry shut his mouth.

"Good now we have twenty minutes until your Order guards arrive at 4 Privet Drive. Don't interrupt Harry. The Dursleys will be out tonight from 6pm until around 9pm, the Order still believes you live with your relatives, the only people in it who know you've been at Hogwarts are Alastor Moody, Severus Snape, and Sirius Black, and all three are sworn to secrecy. Now, you will get dressed and place a few light charms on your clothes so that they look like they have been worn and washed a few times and then you will place everything in your trunk but a wand, then I will portkey you into the kitchen of number 4 Privet Drive where you will wait for the order to arrive, hide in the sitting room, aim your wand at the first person to enter who should be Alastor and say "Freeze" that is the signal to let him know it's you otherwise you will probably have to try and overpower Alastor and the others before Alastor even considers stopping the attack. They will take you to headquarters by broomstick and you know what to do from there." Harry, who had finished getting dressed, aging his clothes and packing nodded as he locked the trunk.

"Anything else?"

"Yes, from now on use this wand." Dumbledore said pulling a thick short wand out of his sleeve and handed it to Harry who accepted it, and handed his old one back to Dumbledore.

"I made that wand today, it's won't be a perfect fit but it's better than your other one. Also it is an unregistered wand and it will mask your magic from any underage magical tracking, as a result I am ordering you to use it discreetly and only when necessary until I tell you otherwise."

"We are up to all sorts of illegal activity aren't we" Harry said slipping his new wand behind his ear like a pencil. "This would be a whole lot simpler if we just pretended I was staying at the Dursley's until September 1st and then I showed up at the station."

"Probably true, but then you wouldn't have been officially met the Order and dealing with your friends would become problematic as I am sure they will talk about things this year that happened over the summer."

"Well if I must I guess I should start heading out right?" Harry said grabbing his trunk and heaving it onto his back. Dumbledore pulled an old wallet out of his pocket and tapped it with his wand.

"Harry, from now on, unless I say otherwise only use legilimency to talk to me." Harry smiled before sending out his message.

"But of course, master"

Dumbledore smiled back and handed the wallet to Harry, and saying the portkey password.

"Until we meet again"

Harry landed in the kitchen of 4 Privet Drive, on his feet for the first time in his life.

"Right" Harry said dropping the Trunk on the ground and walking over to the fridge.

"Let's see if we can find anything edible." He said pulling open the fridge and looking around until he found a slab of leftover steak. Ten minutes later, Harry was finishing off a bowl of vanilla ice cream when he heard the faint sound of someone coming up the walk, wandlessly levitating the dishes into the sink and kicking his trunk under the kitchen table and taking up his position as planned.

The door opened with a click and opened and Alastor walked in wand drawn.

"Freeze" Harry's voice came out as an emotionless statement rather than a command. Alastor laughed.

"Come on Boy, why give away your position? You would be dead if I where a Death Eater."

"True" Harry replied rising from his position with a sheepish look in his face.

'_It would also mean you'd proven incompetent twice in under a year_. _Cocky much you old man?_'

Harry walked into the foyer as Remus and a young woman walked in.

"Hey Moony, going to introduce me to your girlfriend." Harry said with an amused smile. This caused the woman's hair and face to turn pink, and Remus to look very embarrassed.

"Harry, she's not my Girlfriend"

Harry looked piercingly at the Woman.

"True, but she is a Metamorphmagus. Looking at your appearance you are only around twenty, That makes you Nymphadora Tonks, I've heard of you." It was a statement and it was partially true at that, he had already heard from Dumbledore about the Order's resident Metamorphmagus.

"Smart one aren't ya" Tonks said a little disconcerted by Harry's observations

"Maybe, the prophet's been debating it for a while now" Harry turned to face Remus "What's with you, no hug? No 'How are you doing Harry?' No 'You've grown so much?' What kind of uncle are you anyway Moony?" Remus smiled

"Sorry Harry, but for a moment there I thought you where James" Harry wanted to groan but didn't let it show. Instead he smiled as he twirled his wand in his left hand and retorted:

"Can't hide much from you can I? You even know my middle name Moony…" He stopped twirling the wand and locked eyes with the older man. "Glad to no I'm really loved here.

"Sorry, Harry" Remus said a little sheepishly. '_Guess he isn't going to relax. Plan B it is!_' Harry's Plan B was grabbing Remus' hand and pulling the werewolf into a warm embrace.

"Missed you too" He said softly to the older man. Remus relaxed and Harry let go of the werewolf before clapping his hands together.

"Right, so how are we getting out of here?"

"Broomsticks" Moody said gruffly "you ready to go?"

'_No. Of course I'm ready!_' "Yep, my trunk is in the kitchen"

"I'll get it" Tonks said eagerly "_Accio _Harry Potter's Trunk"

The corner's of Harry's lips twitched upward at the resulting crash as Harry's trunk smashed into the Dursley's kitchen-table knocking over the toaster and microwave.

"I'll go fix that" Tonks said sounding a bit put out.

"Eh, don't bother. I cleaned that room more than I care to think about. I can honestly say it never looked so good." Harry said dismissively as he reached into his trunk and pulled out his Firebolt.

"If you could shrink my trunk that would be lovely though" Remus beat Tonks to it. Harry put the shrunken trunk in his inner jacket pocket and turned to Moody.

"Are we disillusioning ourselves, did someone bring a really big invisibility cloak, or did the ICW revoke the Statue of Secrecy?" Four quick wand jabs later and the three disillusioned wizards and one disillusioned witch where walking out the door and taking off on brooms.

If he had to describe the flight Harry would have found it entirely uneventful, dull, and the only upside to it was the rush of tearing down the Thames River at one hundred and twenty kilometers per hour less then a quarter meter off of the water.

The other three fliers would not have described the experience as insane, reckless, and if they had to pick the best part of it they would have all agreed it was when they where on solid ground. As it was they told him what street they where headed to and he took off before they had the chance to stop him. Mad-eye was hardly an able flyer and Remus and Tonks couldn't do anything but try and follow the spray he kicked up as he shot across the surface of the river.

An occasional wandless bludgeoning hex to the water (they just assumed he kicked the surface) would clue them into his location, but even if he'd been glowing neon pink they wouldn't have been able to match his pace. Especially once he whipped up off the water and started hurtling down the muggle roads at the same speed. Had it not been for Moody's eye the entire 'escort team' wouldn't have even noticed his rapid directional shifts. As it was they where trying to keep up while watching him from above the buildings as the boy flew down ally's, between cars, up the side of buildings, along the sides of buildings, through pedestrians, through a parking garage, and through the second story flat of an apartment building that had two windows open.

They were so tired from trying to follow him that when Harry stopped in the middle of the empty street that marked their final destination they didn't even have the strength to say anything to him. Instead a very tired, panting Moody handed Harry a piece of paper. As a house materialized in front of him Harry frowned.

"The impenetrable Fidelius Charm" the level of sarcasm in Harry's statement was only matched by the level of coldness in his tone.

The group of four entered the house and the disillusionment charm was removed, a paler than usual Mrs. Weasley entered and walked over, grabbing Harry and pulling him into a smothering hug.

"Oh Harry you look wonderful, we've all been so worried about you! Oh my you've grown!"

"Good to see you to, Mrs. Weasley" Harry replied forcing a smile and returning the embrace.

"It's been so dreadfull, Fudge denying everything, Dumbledore losing hi…" Harry was only half-listening as he scanned his surrounding. '_Troll foot umbrella stand, low lighting, locked doors, and curtains covering a part of the wall…probably a portrait or something that was deemed inappropriate or disgusting. Yep, This is the dream set of a bad horror movie. Hmm with a little work and I could get a decent tavern out of this old shack, Sirius would probably go for it._' Harry ended his commentary and turned his attention back to Mrs. Weasley, who had just finished her tirade on how unfit the house was for habitation. "…and Ron and Hermione were always moping about how you weren't here, but now you are here and I can get all of you to help me fix this place up…" '_yes, the return of Handyman Harry I knew the need for my services would return soon_' "…Ginny and Hermione are rooming together, it's like they're sisters I always thought Ginny needed a sister, and now you're here, you'll be rooming with Ron, and it's been so hectic with all the Order members rushing in and out all the time."

Harry finally found break.

"Yes it is terrible, but everyone's here now and I've missed everyone so much, do you suppose I could put my things in Ron's room and pay him a surprise visit?" '_just nod and smile Harry. That's the ticket, cute and innocent, use her expectation of youthful exuberance to your advantage._'

"Oh! Of course Harry dear! Come along but be quiet we can't wake _it_" What she had meant by _it_ Harry did not know nor did he care to find out, so he merely smiled and nodded while following Mrs. Weasley out of the room. Immediately after Harry was out of earshot Tonks looked at Lupin and asked: "Has he always been like that?"

Remus, who was still very drained from the flight only shook his head and muttered: "Too much James, far too much James like James"

One quick walk by some exquisite Mounted House-elf later heads (really it did add to the whole haunted house feel) and past a few objects that gave of a suffocating aura of decaying Dark Magic, and Harry was outside the door of Ronald Bilius Weasley's bedroom. '_Come on Harry, He won't notice any difference in your personality, he's observant, but he's in withdrawal from no contact with anyone but his family so even if something's off he won't care._'

Harry looked briefly down the hall to check for prying eyes before he enlarged his trunk and let himself in. Ron was sitting at a small desk facing away from the door.

"I said I would do it Hermione! You don't need to keep checking in on me!" Ron snarled.

"Right, I'll visit some other time then" Ron startled at the unexpected sound of his best friend's voice whipped around falling backwards out of his chair in the process.

"Bloody! Harry when did you?, how did you?, Why'd you bleedin' sneak up on me!" Harry chuckled, walked over and offered his fallen friend a hand.

"Just now, broomstick, and I didn't you are a klutz"

"I am not a klutz!" Ron grumbled indignantly

"Yeah, yeah. So what where you doing that was more important than seeing an old pal"

"Potions homework, Snape oughta be burned for givin' so much work over the summer"

"Almost done?" Ron grimaced

"I just gotta explain the way aconite reacts in a moonflower based anti-venom draught and what properties would differ in the finished product"  
"Need help, I was bored out of my skull and finished my work already." '_Not a complete lie. I was bored out of my skull…last summer, and right now my assignment is done_'

"Nah, that's okay I got it"

"If you finish it up now you'll be done and we can systematically shell-shock Hermione" '_Never hurts to give a little push in the right direction_'

"I will, if you promise not to vanish on me again before I finish"  
"I'll be here I wanted to take a quick nap anyway"

"Thanks Harry, I'll be done soon"

"Take your time" Harry said as he lay back on the bed.

Ron was done soon, to soon for Harry's liking. He had rather enjoyed the peace, quiet and the steady pulses of ambient magic in the walls of the building. Sadly, he couldn't clue Ron in on his new 'improvements' as Albus so aptly called them. So instead of discussing the properties of ambient magic and the differences of the magics found in Hogwarts' and in 12 Grimmuald Place, the topic became the dreaded cross-interrogation about 'What I Did This Summer and Why I kept Vanishing the Last Month of School". Sadly, Harry couldn't say he had spent every waking hour possible studying, using magic and working hard being the apprentice of the Grand Warlock. So he settled for lying. '_Anything for the Greater Good, Right?'_

"Why didn't you say anything in your letters mate? I was getting worried that the muggles had killed you and hidden the body." _'Yeah, that sounds like something Petunia would try. Better play the sympathy card and make the subject awkward._' Harry feigned a sigh and looked Ron in the eyes using mild persuasive legilimency in the process.

"After Voldemort revived he made me duel him, I didn't walk away unscathed Ron, Hell I barely made it out alive. When I got back to school I had to go to Dumbledore to heal the damage." '_so far so good_'_ "_I wanted to keep it quiet because Dumbledore explained that people see me as a symbol more than as a person. If people saw just how injured I was they might lose hope. So I kept my routine therapy sessions a secret" '_No need to mention the damage from his training was what took all the complex healing, that's just a side note and an irrelevant one at that'_. "In hindsight it wasn't really too important since everyone's just writing me off as a delusional attention-seeking brat and Dumbledore as a senile old man."

"NOT everyone" Ron said putting a hand on Harry's shoulder.

"I hope you stay this way Ron, world needs more people like you_." 'And I wouldn't be lying to you if it wasn't for your own good._'

"It's not just me Harry, the Order they all believe you and Dumbledore!"

"I know about that Ron, Dumbledore told me about the Order before I left school. He promised me personally that he would keep you, your family and Hermione safe. That's why I was at Privet Drive, he said that there were wards there that would prevent DeathEaters from locating me there." '_Once again there __were__ wards there,_ _just not anymore_'

"Well, that makes sense, but what was up with your letters? You didn't tell us anything in them." Ron looked dejected as he recalled that detail. Harry would have smiled at how simple this was.

"I'm sorry Ron, I wanted to write but I was a bit out of it you know. I mean, Once I was alone I couldn't stop myself from thinking. I know it's stupid but I blamed myself for Cedric's death. I kept thinking 'why didn't I just take the cup myself?' and the 'what if's?' just rolled on from there. I started thinking about how Voldemort was resurrected with my blood it might have been better if I'd died in the task with the dragon to prevent that. And you know what? I started to believe that too. Finally, after moping for longer than I should have been allowed too" '_about five seconds in Dumbledore's office right after I got back to Hogwarts_' "I realized that the only people I should blame are Voldemort and his stooges" '_Many of whom I killed. Go me!.'_ "If I wanted to do anything I realized I had to get stronger. So I spent hours memorizing and relearning everything we covered in all our textbooks for the past four years, I spent hours exercising to get my body into shape. Time flew by and now I'm here." '_If that doesn't stop all questions I am out of reasonable cover stories so please just drop it._' Luckily, Harry was saved from further questioning by Hermione walking into the room unannounced.

"Ron, are you doing you're potions home…work?" Hermione froze in the doorframe as she looked at Harry who from his seat on the bed waved nonchalantly.

"Hi, Long time no see Hermione"

"Good to see you again, Finished up my work and was just talking to Harry"

Around half way through Ron's greeting Hermione tackled Harry in a hug while simultaneously beginning her own version of what Harry now called a "Molly Monologue."

"Harry, we missed you so terribly…""…been awful…""…Order won't tell us any thing…" '_that's good they haven't resulted to consulting school children'_ "…Library is huge…" '_I'll have to check it out later'_ "… it's simply dreadful how the Blacks treat their house-elves…" '_Yeah it's Hermione_' "…Mrs. Weasleys throwing out the dangerous stuff…" '_Better tell Dumbledore so he can make sure nothing important vanishes, from what he told me a lot of the Alchemy and Runic resources might be chucked in the garbage if they look at Molly the wrong way.' _"…Ginny and I kept telling them to let you come sooner, you don't belong near those muggles even if they are related…" '_I wouldn't say that. Personally, I liked not being murdered by DeathEaters, even if it meant putting up with gross negligence and/or abuse it beats death._' "…Why didn't you write us? Where did you keep going off to at the…" '_oh boy, not this again_' "…I tried to find you with the map and you didn't show up on it!…" '_she what? Thank you Room o' Reqs, thank you paranoid Dumbledore, and DAMMIT, who gave you the right to dig through my stuff?'_

"Let 'im breath 'Mione" '_Thank you Ron and Sorry in advance for makin' you do this but I need some time alone I don't think I could stomach lying the whole sob story again.'_ As soon as Hermione released Harry, he walked to the door and faked a very tired tone.

"Ron, fill Hermione in would you? I need to take a walk." And before either of his friends could protest harry was out the door. A few minutes later Harry was down the hall and back in the foyer where he entered the house earlier.

'_Now let's see what was behind this Curtain_' casting a silencing charm on the whole room and setting up a sentry ward to let him know if someone was coming, Harry walked casually over to the Curtains over the section of wall. With a wave of his hand he wandlessly parted the curtain.

"FILTH! SCUM! MUDBLOODS! BLOOD TRAITORS AND DARK CREATURES! GET OUT! LEAVE THE HOUSE OF BLACK!

'_Yep, I was right, horrible beyond belief, annoying, arrogant and the enemy of the Order at that. Wonder why this beauty ain't out in a trash heap somewhere."_ After staring impassively at the shouting women for about a minute Harry got irritated and decided to shut the old bat up.

"SILENCE" Harry's roar was accompanied by him flaring his magic causing the whole room to shake and the air around him to crackle as his aura manifested itself in the form of angry electric blue flames emanating from his body as his eyes turned totally white. The feel of murderous hate rolled of him in waves. The portrait froze in place, its subject frozen in fear.

"WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU." The order rumbled out of his throat.

"Ma-adame B-black" the stuttered answer came out as a stuttered squeak.

"What gives you the right, to open that painted mouth and address me as anything other than Lord Potter? Answer me!" It did feel good to hold power over someone who treats others like trash. It was childish, juvenile and a bit base, but enjoyable nonetheless.

"I-I am t-the mother of Lord Black"

"No you aren't so shut your arrogant trap. The Lord Black is my godfather and adopted uncle. As he has no child _**I**_ will be the next head of the house of Black. If you aren't too stupid try and remember that you are a sentient decoration not a mother, not even a person, you are pathetic, you are nothing but paint, wood and someone else's magic. I'd destroy your hideous form and the whole wall behind you if I weren't worried about this dump's already dismal property value dropping any lower. From now on you keep your trap shut unless spoken to, do you understand? I am forced to remain in this moldy mortuary for the next thirty-one days, at which time I assure you hell itself wouldn't stop me from leaving. If I get another headache because of your yelling before then I will your mind apart until you scream for your destruction do I make myself clear?" At the end of his question he punctuated it by puncturing the consciousness of the sentient portrait and roughly ripping through its mind. The late Madame Black fell to her knees in the portrait and great smears appeared in the paint."

"Yes, Sir" the broken shade of a women feebly gasped out.

"Good" Harry snapped coldly, canceling his Aura Manifestation and removing the silencing charm and sentry ward. Moments after doing so Sirius Black walked into the room.

"Harry!" Turning quickly and plastering a smile on his face Harry ran over and embraced his Godfather.

"I missed you Sirius"

"You to Kid" After another moment together they broke away.

"What are you doing down here, I thought you where upstairs?"

"Oh just exploring, orienting myself, checking for anything strange or unusual, nice elf collection by the way."

"Gee thanks, you want you can take it with you to Hogwarts. Might look good in the Gryffindor common room."

"Maybe, though frankly they would be put to better use if they showed up on the plates in great hall at the opening feast." Sirius turned slightly green before he burst out into a bark like laugh.

"I can't believe I didn't do that with Moony and Prongs!"

With that Harry and Sirius walked into the kitchen where they ran into Lupin, Tonks, and Moody.

After Harry snagged a butterbeer and convinced Sirius that he didn't mind being the only one with a dry drink, butterbeer tasted better than any of the magically made liqueurs

'_Two things wizards can't do? Make booze or poetry._'

They all sat down and began to chat until everyone was relatively cheerful and sufficiently buzzed. Then Harry asked the question.

"So what has Voldemort been up to" everyone was suitably shocked by Harry's bluntness. Surprisingly it was Tonks who spoke first "We don't know, he's laying low and gathering strength since he doesn't have to worry about the ministry" And so began Harry's inquest of the Order of the Phoenix's members. Naïve blunt questions would get the necessary job done and it would also serve it's purpose of reinforcing Harry's appearance as a harmless, albeit intelligent, schoolboy. Also, interrogating four people at once would make his job significantly faster.

"Sounds right, if it were me I wouldn't show my hand until necessary. Definitely not until I knew I had something as an ace in the hole. It wouldn't do to blow yourself up twice, bad form, bad for morale, and even if you where immortal it still makes you look weak. No, what he needs now is a secret weapon. Something that he can rely on that doesn't involve trusting inbred bigots or hired wands. '_Yes let's through out the suggestion, see how they react. Needs to know how much we can depend on the Order to keep secret and how much needs to be kept secret from them. It won't do for them to be blabbing to a schoolboy, even one so exceptionally intelligent and good-looking as myself_'

Remus was the next to speak.

"That's about what we've deduced. It's difficult to know what he wants specifically but Dumbledore's said he has a few ideas." '_Yes he does Moony. There's Horcruxes, which we think he may have multiples of, there's the prophecy which we need to destroy before Tom gets to it, and there's the possibility of Voldemort searching for either the DeathStick or heaven forbid the rituals of summoning._'

"He's only told us that one of those might involve the Department of…" Sirius was cut off by Mad-eye.

"BLACK!" '_Good Mad-Eye, but you still fail. None of you are supposed to talk about this without Dumbledore's express permission. Tonks fails because she started down the path, Remus for legitimizing my postulation, Sirius for almost spilling all the beans, and Mad-Eye for not ending the dialogue sooner, for legitimizing Sirius' as a good source of information, and they all fail for not noticing exactly how high the alcohol content of their drinks._' Yes by a mixture of alchemy, legilimency and charms Harry successfully spiked all of their drinks without them noticing. Changing the alcohol in the fire-whiskey was ridiculously easy for him as all he had to do was wait for Moody's eye to look away before charming the alcohol to become four times as potent upon entering the bloodstream. Moody had was for more complicated, the first obstacle was that eye. To avoid the eye he place a mild compulsion, via legilimency, making the ex-auror repeatedly check behind him with his magical eye. Since Mad-Eyes flask was charmed to prevent any spell from penetrating it Harry had to wait for the man to open the flask and take a swig before using a switching spell to swap his butterbeer with the contents of Moody's flask after the flask had left his lips but before he closed it. Once the contents were switched he could use Alchemy to flawlessly change the contents to pure alcohol. Then with compulsive legilimency he gently increased everyone's thirst. Placing a temporary transfiguration on the pure alcohol to make it temporarily return to its original form he waited for Moody to drink before swapping the contents of his flask with the transfigured alcohol. The entire business was underhanded, manipulative, and deceitful. But they'd have to learn the hard way, like Harry had, to always check the drink you where drinking. Possibly the worst lesson of Harry's apprenticeship was learning to vanish part or all of something _**after**_ you swallowed it.

'_In all fairness Mad-eye was ridiculously difficult to deceive, so Dumbledore could probably bring him into the loop. Sirius, Lupin and Tonks need work, it shouldn't have been so easy to get them talking. Sad really how much I could have extracted as a spy. I could just kidnap anyone other then Mad-eye and I would be able to extract all the info from Sirius without abducting him. Oh god knows I love him, but twelve years in Azkaban didn't do Sirius any favors. He's weaker intellectually then when he was imprisoned, he's almost as bad as Hagrid at keeping things confidential, and he's so starved for human companionship and affection(doubt spending days at a time as a dog helped that) he would willingly tell someone he thought was his friend anything…though that might not be a recent development. Lupin is in almost as bad a shape as Sirius. Before Voldemort killed James, Peter vanished and Sirius was incarcerated, Remus could control his werewolf side enough to transform three or four day's before or after a full moon, He was in almost complete control on the full moon and could restrain himself enough to be around humans. Now, he's weakened by the moon, he doesn't even have the strength to recognize Sirius' animagus form, and his werewolf resistance has almost vanished. Tonks has potential but she is still a child, she still has a childish infatuation with Sirius, and an increasing romantic attraction to the resident werewolf. I really hope that Dumbledore's suspicions are not correct this time, because if the academy only passed her for her Metamorphmagus skill then she is in real danger. Good thing she's got Mad-eye as her mentor, barring Snape and myself, Mad-eye is probably the only wand in the Order who could survive thirty seconds in a duel with Dumbledore and so far he's the only functional Occlums I've met since I arrived, probably helps that one of his eyes is sentient. Why do I have a bad feeling about what I'll find out in the next few weeks?'_

Conversation turned to safe mundane topics and Harry excused himself, casting sobering charms on the inebriated group to reduce their inevitable hangovers.

'_It is going to be a long month_' Harry thought as he walked into the Black family library to search of some light reading.

Waking through the unlocked double doors into the dimly lit room Harry looked around at the filth that composed the room.

"Would it have killed them to use some basic cleaning charms on this place" Harry questioned the empty air around him, as he cast wandless incendio into the fireplace when he passed it. Harry glanced around the Illuminated room surveying the library. Three tall, long, rows of shelves travelled farther ahead and the fireplace only succeded in illuminating the entrance of the library so shadows still reigned in the room. The ceiling was almost twenty feet above Harry's head, Idly walking towards the unexplored back of the room he heard a thumping which caused him to spin around and scan his surroundings. The thumping came from within the cloakroom to the left of the fireplace. Frowning at the door he drew his wand and leveled it at the door, prepared to destroy whatever was inside if the situation deteriorated. Wandlessly opening the cloakroom door with a creak Harry watched as a cloaked figure fell onto the floor. Taking a few steps closer Harry was surprised to find himself staring at a shaking scrawny being with dull, scraggly grey and black hair, and pale thin skin that stretched and sagged on the frame of the person. Slowly the figure stirred and began to pull itself to its feet. In morbid fascination Harry watched the person rise noting the bony frame outlined by the tattered black robe that hung loosely off their body. Finally the person was standing on their feet, their face was obscured as their head hung loosely in front of them. In the firelight the figure slowly lifted it's head to reveal a pale gaunt face, bloodless thin lips set in a perpetual drooping expression, black circles surrounded, sunken bloodshot eyes, which glowed _Avada Kadavra _green, and above those eyes, prominently glistening a pulsing blood red, stood a thin lightning bolt shaped scar.

"A boggart" Harry words where met only with the sounds of the crackling fireplace.

"So, What does that make you? Me?" Harry sneered at the creature "Only too weak to handle learning true magic? Too pathetic to find a purpose in life? Too addicted to worldly power to let my soul leave this world and travel on? Too tired to care about the consequences of my actions? Alone in an empty dark world with no one? Crushed by the weight of countless lies? Forced to escape my guilt by running away? So desperate for release that I would result to self-destructive apathy?"

The Boggart-Harry looked back with an unfaltering gaze. After a few moments of staring Harry began to chuckle, his volume steadily increasing until he reached full blown laughter. The boggart disintegrated into nothingness and Harry stopped his laughter.

"Fear?" Harry said idly. "How ridiculous!" turning on his heal Harry walked through the darkness deeper into the library, away from the watching pair of blue eyes that followed his movements from the library entrance.


	5. Meetings and Missions

{Chapter 5: Meetings and Missions}

It was 1 o'clock in the morning when the meeting adjourned, after the room emptied Dumbledore hastily sealed the kitchen of 12 Grimmauld Place and looked over just as Harry finished pulling off his invisibility cloak. Dumbledore sent out his question with legilimency.

"Did you finish?" It was a precaution, but unless it was totally pedestrian Harry and Dumbledore spoke to each other solely with legilimency.

"Of course" it had been two weeks since Harry arrived at number 12 and he had had ample time to interrogate, research, and interact with all the members of the Order.

"What have you found out" Dumbledore asked as he sat down in his favorite conjured chair. Harry grabbed two butter beers and levitated one to his mentor before sitting and beginning his report.

"Nothing we didn't already suspect, I can number and rank the combat ready members and not leave the single digits. There is you, Snape, Moody, Doge, Shacklebolt, Vance, and Diggle. Everyone else is a maybe at best."

"What about Tonks"

"She's spell ready and knows how to fight but she's uncoordinated, you were right they did let her out of the academy before she was ready due to her…unique abilities. Moody will help her improve quickly"

"Anything I need to know that we didn't already discuss?"

"Yes. Fletcher has got to go." Dumbledore frowned

"Would you mind telling me why?"

"First of all he is a parasite. He's only loyal to us so that he has a cover for some of the crimes he's been committing. Secondly he is our enemy, in the past three months his crimes include but are not limited too: grand theft, arson, vandalism, assault, breaking and entering, three sexual assaults, and one case of raping and obliviating a muggle. Also he's been attempting and succeeding in stealing black magic texts from 12 Grimmauld Place with the intent of selling them to our enemies. Finally, he ran into Pettigrew THREE times and didn't say anything about it."

Dumbledore was speechless.

"I can understand why you wanted me doing these checkups. I know you scan Snape routinely due to the nature of his duties but maybe we should look into some oaths of disclosure for the rest of our members in the near future."

Dumbledore nodded, his cold blue eyes hardening as he suppressed his rage.

"You don't suppose we could dump some fake memories on him and have Snape 'kidnap' him, and take him to Riddle. Might help solidify Tom's trust in Snape's loyalty?"

Dumbledore was about to dismiss the idea before he remembered exactly how thin the ice Snape tread.

"I'll give him a thorough interrogation and take in under consideration."

"Good if I had to sit there and pretend to not notice his actions one more time I might have decapitated the little worm."

"I am glad you didn't it would have been very difficult to convince people of your sanity if you had. On a lighter note, how are you getting along with your friends?" Harry paused and considered the question. '_This is Dumbledore, if there is one person in this crazy world who can help it's him_.'

"Not to well, I can't stand Hermione, Ron has been acting a little off ever since the day after I arrived and he won't look into my eyes so I can't tell why, Ginny keeps looking at me like a slab of meat, Sirius is a bored wreak, and finally I've got Molly Weasley trying to trash hundreds of years of magical artifacts." Dumbledore nodded and seemed to be thinking about something very puzzling.

"I can't help you with Miss. Granger, I can only hope that young Ginervra will outgrow her infatuation with the Boy Who Lived, Sirius needs time to heal he's still scarred by years of psychological assault, and I will tell Molly to not throw out anything until I have a look at it. As for Ronald, Harry all I can tell you is to sit down with him and talk to him, _really _talk to him. Not about Quidditch or grades but about something personal: thoughts, goals, emotions, fears. He was your best friend Harry, if you don't treat him like an equal, like a person who you can really trust and confide in, then he won't be your friend. If you keep him totally in the dark and only feed him small talk he'll know you don't trust him and that your lying to him, not initially but he'll figure it out."

"Your probably right, I still think that this would be a whole lot easier if you'd just kept me at Hogwarts."

"You know that if I had you'd be chained to a bed in the hospital wing. With the training you went through you needed rest and if we had continued you'd have died about a week ago. Also, you know that if you didn't see your friends, who you like, over the summer you wouldn't be able to stand all the students you barely tolerate come September."

Harry huffed indignantly.

"Anything else I should know Harry?"

"Yeah, my boggart is no longer a dementor. It's me as a weak, emaciated, apathetic, power addicted, dark arts dependent, 400 year old man with thirteen horcruxs."

Dumbledore smiled

"I don't think you have to worry about that Harry, but if it makes you feel any better I promise I won't let you out of your apprenticeship until I am sure that there is no possibility of you falling that far."

"Thank you sir"

"Don't worry about it Harry. Now back to business, meet me in the kitchen tomorrow night at two thirty."

"We are going to destroy the prophecy?" It was a rhetorical question they had already planned and gone over the mission at least three times before Harry left Hogwarts, tomorrow night there would only be five unspeakables present in the whole Department of Mysteries, and none of them worked in the Hall of Prophecies. As he stood and vanished his conjured chair Dumbledore gave Harry a smile and a brief spoken:

"You had best get some sleep Harry" before he disapparated without a sound.

Ten minutes later found Harry outside the door of the room he shared with Ron. Taking a deep breath Harry walked into the room to find Ron lying on the bed fully clothed staring up at the ceiling.

"How was the Order meeting?" Ron asked it in a flat tone that betrayed nothing.

"Pretty dull, Dumbledore knew I was there and had me stay behind to ask me some questions."

"Will you tell me anything that happened" Ron's resigned tone explained better than any words that he wasn't expecting Harry to tell him anything. Deciding to take Dumbledore's advice Harry decided honest disclosure was the best policy.

"Sure, Tom's seduced most of the werewolves in Britain to his side. Hagrid is having very little luck with the giants, apparently they view him and Madam Maxine as runts. Snape is under heavy suspicion, with some of the DeathEaters rooming at his house. Apparently I killed Lucius at Riddle's resurrection party and since Draco is a minor both he and his mom have no access to the family vaults, and since Sirius disowned Narcissa they don't have two knuts to rub together. Your brother Bill is working on easy-install anti-inferius wards. Charlie is trying to get some of the dragon handlers he works with onboard with the anti-Voldemot agenda. And Fletcher is a no-good bum. Also Dumbledore was asking if your mom would reconsider letting Fred and George join the Order. Oh and there's a prophecy the Department of Mysteries that needs to be guarded from Riddle, at all costs, Snape say's that ol' Tom has been franticly trying to get his hands on the thing. Finally, there's a ministry appointed stooge that's teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts this year. Dumbledore knows its only a matter of time until the Ministry finds a way to remove him from Hogwarts. That's about it." Collapsing on his bed Harry turned to look at Ron with a small grin. "Next time you go and spy on them. Okay?" Ron, who looked noticeably happier, smiled back before asking:

"I would have thought Mad-eye would catch you with that eye of his."

"I was wondering about that, Dumbledore explained that my Dad's Cloak makes the wearer truly invisible and that he didn't see me, but he knew I would be there and closed off the room before telling me to take off the cloak."

The two rested in silence for a few minutes before Ron finally broke.

"I'm worried about you" '_well that's a relief_'

"Why?"

"You've been acting odd since you arrived" '_he noticed_'

"What are you talking about?" Ron let out a derisive snort.

"Do you think I'm such an idiot that I wouldn't notice my best friend practicing wandless magic? Or staring into peoples eyes with that terrifying gaze that sends shivers down my spine? Or that you've been reading books that aren't even in English? Or the look of irritation that flickers across your eyes whenever you look at your godfather, my sister, my _**mother**_ or Hermione?" Ron was standing now looking at Harry with a mixture of anger and hurt on his face.

"You know the night you arrived? After I finished telling Hermione that story you fed me, I went looking for you I reached the library and I was about to say something when you saw your boggart. Do you know what I felt when I saw that little confrontation? I was terrified you looked so cold, so _numb_ you were like Death in human form. Do you know what it's like to see the person you thought of as closer than a brother look like that, huh?" Ron took a shuttering breath and collapsed into the chair next to their shared desk.

"Harry I was so worried when you didn't go home on the express at the end of the school year, I was terrified when they said you where at your relatives. Then you showed up and I thought everything was alright, guess I was wrong."

Harry's mind was running through damage control at this point.

"Have you told anyone?" Ron snorted.

"What do you think? Of course I didn't. I know whatever's going on Dumbledore's onboard with it. You said you'd spent a lot of time with him at the end of the year, I can buy that, I can buy the ward story about your relatives, I can understand you've got a few secrets. What I don't understand is why I'm sitting here in the dark guessing what's going on in my best friend's life, and why he feels the need to use a mask whenever he's around me."

Harry looked at his friend blankly for a minute, before he cracked a smile, a genuine smile.

"Guess I haven't really been much of a friend, have I?"

"No you haven't"

"Can I say sorry?"

"I won't stop you"

"I should probably tell you some of what's actually been going on."

"I'd appreciate it"

"Before I do can, I ask you something?"

"What the hell, go ahead."

"Does Hermione suspect anything?"

"Nope"

"Good, I don't think I can handle dealing with her interrogating me. Think you can keep what I tell you a secret even from Hermione?" Ron began smiling conspiratorially

"Of Course"

Harry proceeded to explain some of the situation. He relayed the part of the prophecy that Voldemort already knew, explained how Voldemort wouldn't stop attacking him until one of them was dead, how Dumbledore had agreed to train him to face Voldemort. He told Ron the full account of what actually happened at Voldemort's ressurection. Finally he explained that he couldn't tell Ron anymore than Voldemort already knew or suspected so that if Ron was captured he couldn't spill any secrets. Ron was appropriately shocked.

"That's insane" Ron said shakily.

"I know" Harry replied

"I think I can understand why you've been a little different"

"So we're cool?" Harry asked

"On one condition" Harry raised one eyebrow.

"And what might that be?"

"You gotta teach me some of that wandless magic"

"I'll try, but I'm not sure you are good enough to be able to do it" Harry said condescendingly causing the red-head to smirk.

"I'll take that chance"

The following day was the most enjoyable Harry had experienced since he arrived at number 12. Ron was incredibly helpful to have around. Now that Ron understood what Harry felt like, the red-haired teen knew when to distract the house's other residents and provide Harry with an escape route when irritation set in. Ron seemed very eager to do this especially if Harry was beset by Ginny. After dinner the two best friends were playing chess, ironically Harry was actually holding his own against the unbeatable young chess master.

"I'm going to do something with Dumbledore tonight" If there was one thing Harry was really enjoying, it was being able to be completely straightforward with his best friend. Despite the abruptness of Harry's statement Ron seemed totally unfazed, that was one of the things Harry really liked about Ron. You could tell him that the room was on fire during a chess game and he would be more interested in the small marble pieces of the aforementioned board game.

"That's cool, when are you leaving. Check!" Harry frowned as he stared at his king's position.

"Around two thirty, I should be back around six." Harry watched as Ron's knight killed his queen.

"Can you tell me where you're going?" Harry watched his king move out of the way of Ron's rook.

"I can tell you it's illegal."

"Anything Immoral? Check" Harry shook his head as he tried to find a way to stalemate the game before Ron checkmated him. He was not successful.

"No, just doing something that, in my humble opinion, should have been done by the ministry years ago."

"If somebody shows up asking about where you are what do you want me to say? Checkmate!" Harry groaned.

"I'd appreciate it if you said I woke up after what appeared to be a bad dream and said something about my scar and finding Dumbledore." Ron nodded.

"You gonna get some sleep before that?"

"Yeah, I don't want to look like death tomorrow."

"Guess you ought to conk out now then?" In response Harry pulled out his wand and tapped himself on the forehead before collapsing on the bed with a snore.

Harry awoke at two o'clock, walked to the bathroom to take a cold shower. '_If I show up sleepy Dumbledore will hex me._' And was in the kitchen fully dressed in his body armor at two fifteen. While he waited he downed a pot of coffee and two bagels. At two thirty Dumbledore silently apparated into the kitchen.

"Ready to go?" Dumbledore question was sent directly via legilimency. Harry nodded his confirmation before covering both of them with the invisibility cloak just as the two silently apparated away to the lobby of the Ministry. They walked in silence through the halls until they reached the first door of the Department of Mysteries. With a quick shared glance harry pulled out his wand and transfigured one of his hairs into a hairpin. Ten minutes and two broken Hairpins later Harry had the door open. The door to the entrance room of the Department of Mysteries wasn't charmed against manual non-magically assisted lock picking, however the doors were warded against lock picking with any magical or enchanted objects. The security threshold didn't increase until after you entered the Entrance Room, sadly the only real defense was the enchanted doors which provided no challenge to someone who knew where they wanted to go.

The initial security was designed only to stop the curious and the inexperienced. It was actually amazing how little protection existed around the Hall of Prophecies and Death's Veil. That was part of why tonight's mission was so necessary. The two men walked past the veil ignoring the whispering voices that emanated from the ancient artifact, and entered the Hall of Prophecies with almost no resistance, as they entered the hall they had to stun an startled unspeakable who had been fiddling with what appeared to be a skull covered in runes. As Dumbledore very carefully altered the stunned unspeakable's memories, Harry began walking through the rows of small glowing glass orbs in search of the correct prophecy. After ten minutes Harry found what he assumed was the correct one. Casting a few scanning charms over the object before he pulled out a small brown paper bag with an infinite expansion charm, and multiple cushioning charms on it. From inside the bag Harry pulled out an identical glass sphere. Five minutes later Harry finished successfully transferring the wards on the real prophecy to the fake. After he finished Harry carefully switched the two orbs. His job finished Harry returned to where Dumbledore was finishing his memory alterations on the unfortunate unspeakable. After everything was back in order Harry and Dumbledore reentered the Entrance Room.

Dumbledore then handed Harry a silver knife and a bottle of shiny black fluid. Yes this was without a doubt one of the craziest ideas in the history of magical Britain. Contingency plan 3G of Albus Dumbledore: set up thousands of small remotely activated runic spells throughout the Ministry of Magic. Why? Because if someone gained control of the Ministry Dumbledore wanted to be able to destroy the entire complex. Yes, the two wizards where setting up a matrix of spells to entirely obliterate the Ministry of Magic from the face of the Earth at a moment's notice. It was treason, it was risky, and it was entirely necessary. Admittedly the plan involved doing things that would get both Spellcasters classified as Dark Wizards if it ever came to light exactly what spells were being used in their deadly plan. As Harry systematically carved the runes for the spells throughout the room he had to proactively remind himself that it was entirely necessary. Of course the mental images conjured in the boy's mind as he carved the runes where distracting. The spells ranged from the elementary Bludgeoners and Blasting hexes, to the more exotic aging curses and confusion inducing mental assault wards. Though no true death trap would be complete without the lava golem summoning wards, stone to sulfuric acid transformation traps, magic leaching seals to power all the destructive fury, and of course no harebrained apocalyptic deathtrap was complete until Harry added the FiendFyre summoner schematics. Apparently Dumbledore began setting these ward schemes up during Voldemort's first rise to power as a precaution. He had succeeded in setting up the traps in all but two of the courtrooms, the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts office, and the Department of Mysteries. After tonight the Department of Mysteries would become an inaccessible location to Voldemort if and when he conquered the Ministry, all Dumbledore or Harry had to do was wish it so. The only entrance to the Department was through the aptly named Entrance Hall so instead of risking life and limb booby-trapping the entire Department they decided to save themselves a great deal of effort and decided to attack the lynchpin that was the Entrance Room. Also, by destroying only the Entrance Room they wouldn't need to worry about the magic being studied within the inner chambers interfering with their traps.

Two hours of intensive casting, carving, and warding later two very tired wizards emerged from the Department of Mysteries. Instead of Apparating out of the Ministry they exited into muggle London before apparating to the doorstep of number 12. Going into the kitchen Harry and Dumbledore collapsed into chairs before Dumbledore broke the silence with a verbal inquiry.

"So have you settled things with young Mr. Weasley?" Harry nodded

"I took your advice and leveled with him" Dumbledore looked directly into Harry's eyes sending out a telepathic message paired with his verbal response.

"Oh, and everything is well? _How much did you tell him?_" Harry answered with the same method.

"Yep, he and I are best mates again. _And I only told him the things Voldemort knows, what happened in the graveyard, that you helped me get stronger after I returned to Hogwarts. Just little stuff_." Dumbledore smiled though whether it was because of Harry's verbal or nonverbal message harry would never know.

"Congratulations, I'm glad to hear it." Harry rose from his seat and stretched.

"I think I'll head to bed, sir. _Anything you need me to do before our next meeting_"

"Yes, I should get back to Hogwarts soon. _Yes, If you find anything in this house that gives you an odd feeling take it and hide it until you see me, I'll destroy the prophecy and contact you before the start of the school year, until then think of this as your vacation._"

"All right, good night sir"

"Good Night Harry_ Try and enjoy yourself_" and with that Dumbledore silently Disapparated.


	6. School, Stooges and Stories

{Chapter 6: School, Stories and Stooges}

September 1st was a day that Harry Potter had always looked forward to. When he had been living with the Dursleys it was the day that he went back to school where classroom etiquette prevented Dudley's beatings (for the most part). When he had found out about Hogwarts September 1st was the day he could once again practice magic. Even at the age of fifteen after having seen death, killed with forbidden magic, studied with the greatest master of magic in over one hundred years, battled a basilisk over one thousand years old, and studied the mind arts with two of the most skilled users alive Harry still felt his heart flutter as he looked at the magic steam engine that would bring him to his only real home.

The remainder of the summer had been relatively peaceful. He had meticulously worked on improving Ron's Occlumency in order to prepare his friend for learning the next hurtle of magic, silent casting. It would have been easier if Ron were allowed to practice magic, but they had made due. As Harry walked through the gaggle of staring people to the train he took some perverse pleasure in the looks of fear and hate he was getting from most of the Slytherins. '_Glad to see that my exploits aren't so secret._'

Harry definitely enjoyed being able to walk through the crowd with the same poise and grace his Master possessed. Though it definitely looked odd to an outside observer seeing a fifteen year old in jeans and a plain white T-shirt walk through a crowd with grace beyond his years, a whimsical smile, and eyes that looked held more than should be humanly possible.

Staking out an empty compartment he placed his, Ron's and Hermione's trunks inside along with Crookshanks, who was enjoying a drugged sleep, (Harry and Ron had told Hegwig and Pig to meet them at Hogwarts). Since both Ron and Hermione were in a Prefect meeting Harry took the moment to cast a simple disillusionment charm on himself and take a walk, on the roof of the train. Once Harry reached the roof he lay back and looked back on the past few weeks.

After the switch at the Department of Mysteries Harry's summer had been rather uneventful. Fletcher was arrested for something and Ron had been learning some simple meditation skills and practiced some very basic wandless summoning while Harry read anything remotely interesting in the Black library, but all in all it had been rather dull. At least he would have something for Dumbledore when they met next. Harry frowned as he thought about the Locket he had found while cleaning. Harry shrugged off the thought and remembered the other little gem he stumbled across. He pulled out the long thin dagger from its disillusioned sheath on his wrist. It was an odd blade little over twenty centimeters wrapped in faded black leather and possessing no hilt, it was unique to say the least. What had truly been strange about it was how it bled a mixture of silver and mercury on impact, if he had to guess he would have bet his bank account it was for killing vampires and werewolves. Other than those two oddities he hadn't found anything really noteworthy in the whole place, though in all honesty he'd hardly had the opportunity to search more than a few rooms since Mrs. Weasley had put wards on the doors so she'd know if someone went somewhere they weren't supposed to. Of course it was too crowded for snooping, there had always been some nutjob up at three in the morning in the room Harry planned on searching, and five more roaming the halls. The train passed over a bridge and Harry realized he should probably return to his compartment before someone noticed his absence. Hanging over the side of the train Harry stared into the empty train car in front of him briefly checking to see if anyone could see him before he apparated into the empty compartment directly below him, removing the Disillusionment charm placed on him in the process. With a spring in his step he made his way towards the carriage he'd left the trunks in. Yes, all was well in the world of Harry Potter. Then he saw Malfoy and Ron in what appeared to be an escalating argument.

"Where is the Scarhead?" Malfoy demanded in an angry growl that was a far cry from the arrogant drawl that he had become renowned for.

Walking up behind him Harry spoke loudly into the blonde's ear.

"Perhaps if you give me a name or some other clues I could help you." Malfoy whipped around with his wand drawn, unfortunately for him Harry grabbed Draco's wand with his hand while Malfoy was turning, yanking the wand away from him before he could begin an incantation. If Malfoy was shocked by his being disarmed he didn't show it. Though through Legilimency Harry could feel and sense the anger and indignation flowing off of him.

"Potter" the voice that came from Draco's mouth spoke volumes on the hatred the blonde felt.

"Yes Draco?" '_Just like Dumbledore Harry, just be very polite and amicable, it will drive him mad_'

"You will die, Potter."

"I should hope so, earthly immortality isn't something I'd particularly care for." Malfoy's eyes gleamed in anger.

"The Dark Lord will kill you" Harry formed into a kind patronizing smile.

"Maybe but that's something that Riddle and I will work out with time, thank you for your concern though" Harry offered Malfoy his wand back, Malfoy wasted no time in snatching said wand and pointing it directly at Harry's forehead.

"You'll pay Potter, I'll kill you for what you did!" Harry's eyes hardened and he let out a dark chuckle.

"Of course, I'd almost forgotten. How is your Father?" Malfoy began to growl out an incantation. Before he could actually cast the spell Harry attacked Malfoy's mind and brutally ripped through the inexperienced boys consciousness. Malfoy gasped in pain dropping his wand and was about to collapse to the ground, but Harry caught him by his neck and lifted the blonde off the ground with his left hand.

"Try it again and you won't be around long enough to draw breath." Without another word Harry dropped Malfoy who crumpled onto the floor gasping for breath and suffering from a searing headache. Without sparing a glance Harry walked past him and into the compartment he'd picked out earlier, Ron followed silently. Once the door was closed Ron asked:

"Do you reckon we should be worried?" Harry frowned as he thought about it. The spell Draco had tried to cast was a variant of the _Reducto_ that, even in the blonde's inexperience hands, was powerful enough to reduce stone to dust and wood to ashes, at that range it would definitely have been fatal.

"I think it would be foolish to underestimate him, until we know otherwise assume he's dangerous and mentally unstable." Ron nodded

"Are you going to tell 'Mione" Ron asked

"I'm not, but if your gut is saying to tell her I won't stop you" Yes, being around Dumbledore had changed the way he saw things. Dumbledore explained that there were no rules with magic and the guidelines that are taught hardly more than guesses based on experience, in short magic was primarily indeterminant and there was always a way to accomplish a task it just required the ability to see past what _seems_ to be. Transmutation of Gold was possible, conjuring food, even raising the dead was a temporary possibility. Magic wasn't science, it wasn't art, Magic was part of the exceptions, the unnatural, forbidden, and the inexplicable that all fit in the massive realm that was the ethereal. Hermione was someone who because of her time in the muggle world, her own nature or because of some inane quest for order required a system where the rules where prescribed and as a result he found himself hating the way she would cite peoples _theories_ as if they were an unchangeable _**dogma**_. The only true dogma of magic was that it existed, everything else was conjecture.

Despite his growing annoyance with her mentality she was still his friend and he owed it to her to keep her somewhat in the loop...most of the time. Of course there were definitely things Harry had no intention of telling either of his friends anytime soon…or at all.

"Where is she anyway?" '_The tried and true way of avoiding a confrontation, change the subject very subtly and hope no one tries to stop you._'

"She ran into some girl who mentioned a nurgle or something and she started saying they don't exist. I left when it looked like they were about to start arguing"

"It's called a Nargle Ron, not Nurgle and personally I believe Nargles are analogous for a form of mania."

"Right"

"You don't care do you?" Harry muttered causing Ron to smile happily.

"Not in the least!"

"You want to try that silent casting I told you about over the summer?"

In the next hour Harry taught Ron the basics of silent casting. And was pleased to see his red-haired friend rapidly getting better at first year spells. Ron was pleased to see that all the hours of boring meditation and rereading textbooks had actually offered results. And that's when Hermione came bursting through the door looking furious.

"Everything alright Hermione?"

"NO IT'S NOT!"

"Care for a glass of water…" Ron said offering a cup of water in his recently transfigured tea set. "…You're look really hot right now."

Harry looked dumbfounded. '_Did he just?_'

"No! I don't want a glass of water Ronald!" Just then the trolley rolled by.

"Anything of the cart Dears?"

"Of course!" Ron said jumping to his feet.

"We would like enough Pumpkin juice to fill this…" Ron said offering his recently made teakettle, which was around the size of a cauldron. "…twelve treacle tarts…" He said offering a set of china plates "…as many Choclate Frogs as you can fit in this…" He levitated a gilded bronze snuff box(with a spatial expansion charm on the inside) onto the ground next to the woman. "…and as many Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans as you can fit in this." He finished placing a crystal punch bowl on the seat nearest to the cart.

"Ron you're are going to ruin me!" Harry groaned

"What is going on?" Hermione asked forgoing anger in favor of confusion.

"I told Ron anything he silently made into a receptacle I would pay for him to fill when the trolley arrived." Harry said grumpily. "First thing he tried making was a trunk. Luckily he had limited base material or I wouldn't have a bank account anymore!"

Hermione was silent for a second as what Harry said sunk in.

"Silently transfigured? Don't be ridiculous that's sixth year material!" Harry nodded.

"Yes and if you can successfully complete the practical on the O.W.L. silently you automatically get a perfect score." '_I should know, Dumbledore was so angry when I showed him that clause. Of course he didn't honor the rule! Crammed that test down my throat in July and I still aced it!_' Harry thought amusedly.

"Thank you Mademoiselle. The ebony haired gentleman will cover the bill." Ron said levitating his spoils into the center of the compartment. After Harry paid the woman fifty galleons he turned to face Ron.

"_**Never**_ again Ron" he said firmly.

"How on earth do you intend to eat all this?" Hermione shouted.

"Well I'm not going to eat it all now…" Ron said as if talking to a child. "…I'll seal most of it in my trunk with a expansion charm on the inside to fit it all in. There's no way I could eat this _**and**_ the feast, I have to watch my perfect figure." Ron finished patting his stomach.

"Right" Harry said nodding patronizingly. "Look, I'm gonna take a nap wake me up when we get to school." Without waiting for a response Harry hit himself in the head with a sleeping charm and was out like a light.

Harry awoke to find a bucket of ice-water floating above him.

"Try it, and you'll find yourself upside down naked in the great hall later." Harry said in a deadpan.

Ron frowned and vanished the contents of the bucket.

"You're no fun you know that?"

Harry stretched and got up.

"Are we there?"

"Yeah, train's arriving in two minutes, I knew you wouldn't need much time to change." Ron finished with a knowing look. Harry nodded and performed a quick switching spell on his clothes, changing them with his school robes.

"You better teach me that." Ron said giving Harry's now changed clothes a jealous glance.

"Baby steps, my young protégé." Harry replied with a cocky smile. "Where's Hermione?"

"Talking with Ginny in the other car, we just finished our prefect rounds. Give me a hand with this will you." Ron said gesturing to his mountain of recently won junk food. With a swish of his wand and a flick of his hand Harry had Ron and his own things fully packed. Another swish of his wand and both trunks were the size of overfilled wallets.

"Safer" Harry said to the curious Ron beside him.

"Once again…"

"I know, in due time Ron" Harry said flipping his wizard hat onto his head, and wrapping his cloak around him with a flourish as he walked out of the room.

"Harry, why the hat?" Ron asked rushing out of the compartment after him.

"It's something called style dear you wouldn't understand" Harry said in a condescending tone that evoked a chuckle from the other boy.

"Right scar head."

As they walked through the crowds up to where the carriages where Ron took stock of their surroundings catching a glimpse of Proffesor Grubby Plank waiting for the first years.

"So Hagrid's not back yet?" Ron observed as they passed the new Professor.

"Suppose not. Dumbledore didn't actually expect him back until October at the earliest." Harry added offhandedly.

"Well a guy can hope…"

"A little extra homework won't kill us. Try and remember what Hagrid has to deal with right now" Harry reminded the other boy, as they approached the carriages.

"Good we're a little early." Harry said walking up to the Enormous skeletal winged horses attached to the coaches.

"First lesson of the year. Ron, what do you see here." Harry said walking so that Ron was standing next to the beast.

"A Carriage" Ron said a little confused at Harry's questioning.

"Nothing else?"

"No" Harry smiled knowingly.

"Then might I suggest you raise your left hand out to your side." Ron did so and jumped back with a yelp as his hand touched the bony animal's skin.

"First lesson Ron: Never assume. What you just felt was a thestral. A large skeletal winged horse visible only to those who have seen and understood death, they eat raw meat and are perfectly safe to be around…most of the time though they do tend to brutally kill things when they hunt." Harry added as an afterthought. With a little encouragement Harry got the other boy to rub the large ghoulish steed.

"This…is…wicked!" Ron gasped out in amazement

"You can see them?" A dreamy voice asked. Harry turned to look at the speaker, a fourth year in Ravenclaw robes, with straggly blonde hair and large dazed eyes.

"I can't, he can" Ron said not looking up as he watched in fascination as his hand touched and rubbed against the invisible animal. Harry nodded and looked into the girl's eyes using light legilimency to check for any ill-will or deception.

"Yes I don't believe we've met. I'm Harry Potter, this is Ronald Weasely and you are…"

"Luna Lovegood"

"Very nice to meet you" Harry said smiling and hitting Ron to get his attention.

"Yes very nice." Ron said before turning back to the thestral and poking it in amusement.

"Would you care to join us in our carriage, as soon as Ron's done with his investigation of the thestral's flank?"

Luna's face lit up in a smile.

"I'd like that" Harry nodded and patted Ron's Shoulder.

"It's still gonna be there later Ron" Harry said in an amused tone.

" HARRY, RON!" Harry looked over to see Hermione, Ginny, and Neville approaching.

"Hey guys come over here and pet the horse." Ron said eager to share his most recent discovery.

"Ron…" Hermione began looking a little irritated "…There isn't any horse there."

Ginny and Neville nodded looking at Ron a little unnerved by the boy's apparently delusional state.

"Welcome to my life." Harry whispered to clapping Ron on the shoulder before escorting Luna into the carriage and leaving his red-haired friend to convince everyone about the existence of thestrals.

"So how long have you been able to see them" Luna asked dreamily.

"Only since last spring." Harry said removing his hat. "In order to see them you need to witness and understand human death. Up until recently I had never understood what it meant to see someone die. I barely remember my parents unless a dementor is around, and I passed out from pain while Quirrel was dieing, and all the other deaths…" '_Riddle's horcurx, the basilisk, various other magical creatures_' "…were things I didn't think of as human. Until last semester when Cedric died, the concept was still abstract." Luna nodded, whether out of courtesy or understanding Harry wasn't sure.

"I saw them when I first arrived and thought everyone started saying I was insane." Luna said quietly. Harry kept his face passive and nodded.

"All during my second year people thought I was crazy…" Luna looked up curiosity on her features. "…I was hearing voices in the walls, turns out it was a basilisk that only I could hear because I am a parselmouth. But that's enough morbid talk. You aren't related to Xenophilius Lovegood are you?" Harry saw the answer in her mind before she spoke, it was a little irritating to get that echo effect whenever you had a one on one conversation with a non-occulms.

"Yes, I am" "_She's worried I'll laugh at her, she's really sensitive inside that shell of hers_"

"Well I thought I should tell you that he was close to the truth with his investigation of my godfather. Sadly Sirius was there on the day of the incident with Pettigrew and those 12 unfortunate muggles. However, a friend of both Sirius and my father, Remus Lupin, can vouch that the three of them and Peter Pettigrew doubled as The Hobgoblins as well as several other bands on quite a few occasions for the fun of it." '_Yes that one was funny to watch Sirius tell. Especially since they got Peter and Remus drunk later and hired two hookers to pretend that they'd had sex with them. Sirius still has the scar from when Remus found out!_'

Luna looked stunned, more so than usual. "_Isn't used to people actually giving any credence to the Quibbler, pity."_

"AHHHHHH! WHAT THE BLOODY HELL?" Hermoines scream ripped through the quiet calm, causing Harry to smile.

"It sounds like Ron just convinced Hermoine that he is not crazy." Harry said calmly.

Five minutes later Neville, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny entered the carriage.

"Did you have fun with the thestral?" Harry asked them eyes twinkling with amusement.

"The What?" Neville asked in confusion.

"The black-winged skeletal creature resembling _Equus cabullus_ in body structure." Harry said nonchalantly.

"How come you can see it?" Hermione asked in annoyance.

"Because I have _**known**_ death." Harry said calmly.

"That's it" Hermione sounded shocked.

"If being forced to watch a person transition from being a living breathing human to a corpse that is nothing more than a sum of its parts is 'it', then the answer is yes. But, believe me when I say that it is a high price to pay for such a trivial reward. I am sure Luna would agree with me." Harry said casually, as a solemn Luna nodded absently. Hermione looked from Luna to Harry and sat down without a word.

'_Perhaps I was a little harsh on her…eh, she'll get over it. She's tough._'

The sextet entered the Great Hall with the rest of their classmates. Harry shrunk his hat and cloak and deposited them into his pocket walking up to the Gryffindor table with Neville, Hermione and Ron. Ginny was heralded immediately by her fourth year friends and Luna drifted over to the Ravenclaw table. Sitting with as much poise as possible Harry turned to view the staff table.

"_Ahh good, Fudge sent his toad to grace us!_" Harry thought looking coolly at the toadlike woman in a pink cardigan.

"Who's that?" Hermione said sharply.

"Dolores Umbridge, politically active supporter of Fudge, staunch anti-werewolf and anti-magical creatures legislation networker, very well connected ministry bureaucrat. Here to teach us Defense Against the Dark Arts, as well as keep an unofficial eye on Dumbledore and report all she knows to the minister." Hermione whirled on Harry and was about to ask why and how he knew when the sorting hat burst into song.

" In times of old when I was new

and Hogwarts barely started…

Harry smirked and looked over at Dumbledore.

"_He's going to tell the whole tall?_" He telegraphed

"_It's something that should have been done sooner_." Dumbledore responded.

"_How'd you convince the hat to give this spiel?"_

"_I asked him. He agreed that this is a dangerous situation we are creating._"

"_Fair enough, I suppose it can only help to let them know that everyone but Helga played favorites._"

"_Trying to send them a better representation of the founders was the best idea I had._"

"_Can't we just have the sorting hat insult the minister?_" Dumbledore's lips quirked at Harry's suggestion.

"_Given that I am barely maintaining my position as it is I doubt that would be a good idea._"

"_But it would be funny._"

"_Maybe, but telling students that school unity is better than house unity is both less controversial and more practical_."

"_Of course, for you next history lesson how 'bout you have the sorting hat explain Riddle's status as a half-blood bastard with daddy issues?_"

"_I'll take it under consideration. But running a smear campaign against Tom isn't the best message for eleven year olds._"

"_Touche_"

"…I have told you, I have warned you

Let the sorting now begin."

"Branched out a bit this year hasn't it" Ron said with eyebrows raised into his hair.

"As is fitting" Harry replied.

"I wonder if it's ever given warnings before?" said Hermione sounding slightly anxious.

"Yes Indeed" said Nearly Headless Nick knowledgably.

Harry tuned the ghost out and stared at the scared eleven year olds in front of him, trying to guess with light legilimency scans where they'd be placed.

"_79 out of 93 that's odd I shouldn't have missed that many._" Harry frowned and looked at Dumbledore, as his mentor, decked out in purple robes and hat with animated stars flying over them, rose to address the students.

"To our newcomers," Said Dumbledore in a ringing voice "welcome! To our old hands – welcome back! There is a time for speech making, but this is not it. Tuck in!"

Watching the students laugh Harry looked at Dumbledore and telegraphed his approval.

"_You've still got it._"

"_I should hope so, it's only been three months._"

"_I think Malfoy has become a tad unhinged_" Harry reported showing Dumbledore his memory as he served himself his meal.

"_I'm afraid that you may be right, Try not to aggravate him Harry._"

"_Okay, but if he starts something I will finish it._" Harry got a feeling that Dumbledore was rather amused.

"_I would be rather surprised if you didn't. If something does happen, do try and make it look like an accident. Student deaths require a lot of paperwork and I really don't want to have to break you out of Azkaban_"

"_But you would do it?"_

"_Of course, and I would personally kill you afterwards_" Harry restrained himself from chuckling at his mentors warning.

"_Got it, don't get caught._"

"_I suppose that's the best I'll get out of you_. _Try not to paint the picture that you are a vindictive homicidal warlock._"

"_What is a wizard who is plotting to slaughter a terrorist organization who killed said wizard's family?_"

"_I didn't say you were not Harry. I just said don't paint that picture of yourself._"

"_Right. Now back to the news. Where's Hagrid?_"

"_He is running by a vampire colony in France with a 'friend' before returning._"

"_Good to know. What can you tell me about Luna Lovegood?_"

"_Her Mother was a Master Astrologer and Rune caster, Father was a skilled hitwizard who enjoyed destroying enemies with conjured monsters from his imagination, he helped me locate a few artifacts in his more youthful years. He suffered a terrible accident with a legimancer in the magical district of Istanbul and hasn't been the same since. Xenophilius founded the Quibbler two years later, five years after that Mrs. Lovegood had an accident with a spell she was modifying, Luna was nine and was the only witness to the accident. Since her arrival at Hogwarts she has had excellent grades but has been ostracized by the rest of her house._"

"_I suspected as much. How much longer do you estimate you'll be headmaster for?_"

"_I doubt I'll be here in February_"

"_Then we don't have much time do we? What do you need Master?_"

"_For now we wait. I'll talk to you later about your training I have a very strong feeling that we will need to adjust our plans to accommodate our Ministry appointed chaperone._"

"_As you wish. I have two items from the Number 12 that I think you will want you to take a look at?_"

"_Wait until we have a moment alone."_

"_Very well._"

"_I advise you return your attention to your friends before they suspect anything_." And with that Dumbledore severed the link.

Harry returned his full attention to his friends and attempted to maintain conversation with them for the remainder of the meal.

After all the students had finished eating Dumbledore rose to begin his usual end of feast address.

"Well, no that we are all digesting another magnificent feast…" Harry took the moment to look around at the castle residents. After a moment his eyes fell upon Umbridge. Focusing for a moment Harry subtly probed her consciousness and barely stifled a groan. Focusing on Dumbledore Harry projected a quick message.

"_Umbridge wants to make a speech when you introduce her, it's long and boring and she'll interrupt if you don't let her say it!_"

Like a true master Dumbledore didn't even pause upon receiving the message but kept running through the full list of notices before beginning to introduce the new professors.

"We are very pleased to welcome back Professor Grubby-Plank, who will be taking over the Care of Magical Creatures lessons; we are also delighted to welcome Professor Umbridge, our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."

Subdued applause followed.

"And now if there are no other announcements…" Dumbledore took a moment to look at the other professors, until his eyes reached Professor Umbridge.

"Then Professor Umbridge would like to take this opportunity to address the school, Professor"

More Subdued applause followed as Dumbledore took his seat and Umbridge rose to her standing height.

As her voice began grating through his eardrums Harry smirked at Dumbledore.

"_Giving her enough rope to hang herself?_" he prodded the older man

"_Harry, all I did was follow your hint._"

"_My hint was to prevent her from interrupting you and lowering the perceived respect that you deserve. I didn't say you had to set her up for the gallows_."

"_All I have done is allow her to say her piece_"

"_Which happens to be a convoluted mess of restraining and innovating, which could be a useful lesson but in this format it only accomplishes annoying the audience._"

"_True_"

For a second Harry didn't respond.

"_She won't last the year will she?_"

"_Not if I can do anything about it._"

Harry was laughing uproariously in his mind upon hearing Albus' comment.

"_If she only knew_"

"_But, the point is Harry, she doesn't_"

"_And she won't. Until it's to late?_"

"_Of course._"

Harry and Dumbledore shared a malicious grin.

"And I thought this was going to be boring" Harry whispered quietly

After Umbridge finished her speech the entire student body was officially sick of the woman. Harry strolled up to the dormitories with Neville and slipped through the portrait of the Fat Lady, up the steps and into the dorm. Placing his and Ron's trunk's in their place he unshrunk them.

"Hi Dean!" He said as he set up an alarm on his trunk's lock and a quick perimeter charm on his bed.

"Hey, Harry" Dean said as he noticed the magic his roommate was using on his trunks.

"Err, everything alright there?"

"Yeah just practicing magic, I need all the practice I can get" '_big understatemet_' Harry added mentally

"Oh, did ya have a good holiday?"

"It was eye-opening" Harry said dismissively "and yours?

"Yeah it was okay" chuckled Dean "Better that Seamus's anyway, he was just telling me."

"Why, what happened, Seamus?" Neville asked as he affectionately placed his _Mimbulus mimbletonia_ on his bedside cabinet. Not looking in Harry's direction Seamus responded.

"Me mum didn't want me to come back." Harry frowned '_oh, boy'_

"What?" Neville exclaimed

"She didn't want me to come back to Hogwarts."

"Why?" Harry asked, half-knowing the answer already. Seamus looked at Harry for the first time and answered in a measured voice.

"Well, I suppose…because of you"

"Daily Prophet?" Harry said emotionlessly "I'm crazy? And Dumbledore's an old fool?"

Seamus winced and looked away from Harry's piercing gaze.

"Yeah, something like that."

Harry turned away from Seamus and heaved a sigh. He then opened his trunk and performed a switching spell to swap his clothes with the transfigured pajamas in his trunk before jumping into his bed.

Seamus broke the awkward silence in the room.

"Look…what _did_ happen that night when…you know, when….with Cedric Diggory and all" Harry got out of bed and looked into Seamus' eyes.

'_He wants to know. He really wants to believe._'

"The Triwizard cup was a portkey. It took us to the graveyard of Voldemort's father. Cedric was hit with an _Avada Kadavra_ and I was disarmed and bound by a DeathEater called Wormtail. My blood was used as part of a ritual to resurrect Voldemort. He came back, summoned his Death Eaters and he tortured me. In desperation I succeeded in apparating out of my bindings. I grabbed my fallen wand and ran, desperate to survive. After a few moments/minutes/seconds I found myself collapsed atop Cedric's body. Just before Voldemort executed me I apparated again bringing Cedric with me. Next I remember I was on the floor of the house I spent my childhood in, and I passed out."

"Conveniently, you haven't got any proof." Seamus remarked snidely.

"If you the remains of blood magic at the location Voldemort was reborn at, and having me repeat the same story under Veritaserum in front of multiple Aurors no proof, then you may have a point." Harry paused briefly.

"But, I suppose it won't hurt to give you something a little more _tangible as _proof of my little stint with the DeathEaters."

Harry said in a whisper as he pulled off his shirt and revealed his scared body.

"This…" Harry pointed to his arm just above the elbow on the inside. "…is where I was cut open and my blood was harvested as a potion ingredient for Voldemort's resurrection. These…" Harry gestured to scars of multiple puncture wounds on his back and shoulder. "…are from shrapnel of a tombstone turned nail bomb which I barely dodged. The big slash scar on the lower back is from when I was trying to run away and I was clipped with a cutter, it was cursed so it had to be cauterized instead of healed. Funny thing is that I didn't even realize it had hit, Voldemort's Crucio almost annihilated my sense of touch so I didn't really notice the pain. If that's not enough proof of my trial and you have some time I can look up the right spell and I could show you which bones I had to vanish and re-grow after they were shattered beyond repair. Or do you want me to shave my head? Then I can show you the scar on my head from where my hair was on fire and it burned off the skin on my scalp. Perhaps if your feeling really curious and I were in the mood I could give you an in-depth description of what it feels like to be running around like an animal while being shot at by wizards up to sixty years your senior. So is this enough or do you want me to show you the real scars of my trial?"

"Tha-that just proves you were tortured it doesn't mean that h-he's back." Seamus retorted, though from the sound of his voice it didn't sound like even he believed his statement.

"If you really don't trust me then you can always look up the report that the Aurors published on the incident. The descriptions I provided under veritaserum are identical to the appearance, behavior and attitude of the Voldemort that rose to power before." Then Harry cocked his head to the side and gave Seamus a small smile

"Of course, if you don't trust me, someone who you've lived with for four years, and you don't trust the man who saved Europe from Grindelwald and has fought tooth and nail against corruption all through his career. Then why trust a report filed out by the Aurors at the Department of Magical Law Enforcement? Or more importantly, why trust a newspaper who published blatant slander against fellow students all last year?"

Seamus opened and closed his mouth wordlessly, trying desperately to think of a way to prove Harry a liar.

"You don't need to answer Seamus. It's not like I expected any support from the boys that I've eaten, slept, and studied with for the past four years." The ebony haired teen said coolly.

"I believe you!" Neville said quickly.

"Thank you Neville I appreciate that. You're grandmother doesn't think Dumbledore is totally bonkers then?" Harry asked with the strange eerie calm that began flowing from him when he'd began talking to Seamus.

"Not at all she says the if Dumbledore says he's back, then he's back and anyone who thinks they can write him off as a senile man is mental. We canceled our subscription to the prophet two weeks ago." Replied Neville '_I never really expected this from Neville. Of course I should have, given what Dumbledore told me about his parents. Boy has got moxie._' Harry turned to look at the gathered crowd, apparently the sixth, seventh, and fouth year boys in the tower had gathered outside the door and were listening to the exchange between Harry and Seamus.

"Just so I know, how many of you guys actually think I've gone totally bonkers?" Harry said with a look of amusement on his face. No one raised their hands. '_Between what they just overheard and the way Fred and George are looking at them you'd have to be a total idiot to say anything_'

"Well that's a comfort." Harry said with a smile. '_Doubt anyone of them is going to do anything to stop the rumors but it's a start._' Turning back to look at Seamus Harry said:

"Believe whatever you want Seamus. But for the love of all things holy don't just blindly trust a news-source that goes and sponsors the slandering of schoolchildren like Hermoine for a profit." Harry jumped onto his bed and pointed his wand at his forehead.

"Night everyone" There was a flash of light and Harry was out like a rock.


	7. Begin Sedition

{Chapter 7: Begin Sedition}

Harry awoke sharply. '_One drawback of magically induced sleep, I wake up at five freakin' thirty and I can't go back to sleep_' Harry thought as he cleaned himself with a magical hose-down, cleaning charm, and a quick drying charm. Using a switching spell get dressed as he walked out the door Harry made his way down to the kitchen. Under his invisibility cloak, he snagged a piece of peanut toast, some orange juice, and a big bowl of fruit, berries, yogurt and granola which he downed in one minute and thirty seven seconds. Of course he still needed a few other nutrients to complete his meal but he could get those at breakfast with the rest of his friends. '_I'll have to eat something then_'

Walking along he couldn't help wondering: '_Maybe Snivellus is up."_

"Ron, Where's Harry?" Ron looked up from his meal and looked at Hermione.

"I missed you too Hermione. Did you sleep well? I did, dreamt all night about seeing you again." Ron replied.

"Where is he?" Hermione repeated sitting down.

"Who?" Harry said appearing behind Hermione, who jumped with a squeak.

"You" Ron said unstartled by Harry's sudden appearance.

"Where were you?" Hermione asked crossly.

"I took a walk" Harry said smiling disarmingly. '_and had a little duel with Snivellus but that's a story for another time_'

"What do are timetables look like?" he already knew but it was better to just ask them and hear it from them.

"H-harry" The trio turned to see a very nervous Seamus.

"Yes Seamus?" Harry said calmly.

"I wanted to say I'm sorry for believing you were…you know?" Harry smiled and clapped the other boy on the shoulder.

"It's fine. Water under the bridge. Can't say I really blamed you, you've still got a parents whose primary concern is your wellbeing. Logically if I was a parent I wouldn't want to believe that there was a sociopath lurking in the shadows. I am glad you believe me though." Harry said scooting over to provide the other boy a seat.

"Thanks!" Seamus eagerly took the seat. "Hey if you don't mind my asking, you're different than last year. You're calmer I guess. Why?" Harry chuckled.

"After you've seen hell once the world gets a hole lot more enjoyable. Things don't bother you much when they're put in perspective." Seamus looked a little guilty.

"I'm sorry I should have…" Harry cut him off.

"Relax, I've long since come to terms with that night. There is nothing to apologize for. Now what have we got for classes professor." Professor McGonagall just handed him his timetable and kept walking.

"Potions, Divination, History of Magic, and Defense Against the Dark Arts." Ron grumbled.

"Could be worse" Harry said subtly vanishing his own timetable. He was in all the same classes with Ron and it wouldn't matter to much since he could always just legimens the info out of his teachers…except Snape. Never legimens Snape. Speaking of legilimency and teachers. Harry looked up at Dumbledore who was seated at the head table.

"_I love magic, I hate school_" Harry's telepathic message was received with mild amusement.

"_I'm sure you'll survive._"

"_If you're so sure, you can be me and I'll spend the day outside. It is far to nice outside to be trapped in here relearning what you taught me once already._"

"_._" Harry almost threw his hands up.

"_How about we just unleash FiendFyre and a few dozen lava golems in the general vicinity of Riddle's base and hope we get lucky?_"

"_Because we need to find his Horcruxs and destroy them, before we unleash senseless destruction all over the British Isles and solidify our reputations as Insane Dark Lords._"

"_Pity, It would be so much easier to just torch the Isle and retire to the French Riviera, the Ivory Coast, the Bahamas, or Las Vegas._"

"_Work before pleasure Harry._"

"_Of course master, how long do we have to stay here?_"

"_Only until I am 'removed' or until Tom makes his move._"

"_I'm not getting out of this am I?_"

"_Not a chance, as long as I am running this school you will endure your classes._"

"_For the first time in my life I wish you weren't the headmaster of this school._"

"_Sticks and stones Harry, sticks and stones._" With that Dumbledore rose from the staff table and left the room.

"You alright Harry?" Ron asked kicking his ebony haired friend under the table.

"Yeah, just phased out for a second." Harry said looking into Ron's eyes and searching his surface thoughts, feeling Harry's unasked question Ron maintained eye contact. Apparently Hermione, Neville, Seamus, and Ginny where worried when Harry didn't say anything about the open position on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Ron had kicked his friend to get his attention subtly.

"I'd say even with Wood gone we should do well. He was great keeper; but I'm sure there's someone else who can do the job." Harry shared a knowing glance with Ron. '_Let the schoolyard angst continue_'

The day was going well Harry had spent Potions sparring mentally with Snape who had relentlessly drilled Harry, via legilimency, on his knowledge of magical interactions and his abilities of recognition of dark spells. This would have been an easy exercise had the lesson not been occurring while Harry was trying to brew a particularly volatile potion. Every time he had to add an ingredient Snape tried to catch him off guard and bombard the teen with a particularly grotesque image of the effects of the spell they where discussing. Much to Snape's displeasure Harry succeeded in completing the potion almost perfectly. To make up for Harry's public success, Snape decided it would be great to stage an 'accident.' The accident? Snape altering Goyle's potion so that it exploded at Harry as the teen was walking by. Harry raised a shield and deflected the extremely acidic fluid into an unoccupied desk. The desk was totally dissolved in five seconds and Harry lost five points for using his wand, another ten for damaging school property, and detention with Filch for sabotaging Goyle's class work. Harry lost twenty points when he chuckled.

Divination and History of magic bored him and Ron, but they passed the time by Harry explaining the intricacies of legilimenced-telepathy. Ron proved to be an eager student. The red-head was unable to initiate a telepathic conversation but the two were able to converse via Harry's skill. The true fun was showing Ron the memory of what a thestral actually looked like. The boy had fallen out of his seat with a yelp and succeeded in annoying the imperturbable Professor Bins. By the time they walked into the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, the two boys were in great spirits. That's when the fun began.

'_Defense Against the Dark Arts: A return to the basics. My that is a marvelous idea. I believe the most basic method of defense is trial by fire._' Harry mused as he flipped through his copy of _Defensive Magical Theory_. And set up a stenographic quill and a sheaf of parchment.

'_I hate tedious repetitive self-introductions. Still, this is an excellent use of a preposition_. _Magnificent grammer…I wouldn't agree that Ministry Aurors have eliminated the need for practicing self-defense_…' After another few minutes of circling every time the words rephrased a previous statement, Harry was interrupted by Ron pelting him with a wad of paper. Harry looked up to see Umbridge and Hermione in a verbal duel with their distaste for each other barely concealed. Harry watched in amusement as the class slowly descended into a cross-interrogation of their new teacher.

'_She's baiting us_' Harry thought watching as the women ignored students with their hands up. '_She's trying to set me up_'

"…that a theoretical knowledge will be more than sufficient to get you through your examination. Which, after all, is what school is all about…"

'_._' Harry smirked knowingly. After another few moments of watching the scene in front of him he calmly raised his hand. After, the classes complaints ceased Umbridge looked over at Harry. Seeing the hatred in her eyes Harry allowed his lips to quirk into a small ghost of a smile. After ten seconds of staring.

"Yes, Mr…?" Umbridge said in a measured, but still sweet, voice.

"Potter, I would just like to clarify. This class will be a theoretical study of self-defense?"

"Yes"

"And it is your belief. That a theoretical knowledge will be sufficient for us to pass our O.W.L.'s?" Harry said his eye's twinkling in amusement, even while his voice held a calm soothing tone.

"As well as the Ministry's" Umbridge said in a clipped tone.

"And if our theoretical knowledge is ingrained enough in our minds over the course of the next eight months, we will be able to perform the practical part of our examination in spite of having not practiced a single spell?"

"Of course."

"And in passing this examination, the purpose of attending this class is fulfilled? Because the only reason we are here is to pass a test?"

Umbridge stiffened. '_Ah yes she realizes the trap_'

"Professor Umbridge, forgive me. I am suddenly painfully aware I am in the wrong class." Harry said tossing his book into his bag, getting up from his seat and walking towards the door.

"Mr. Potter!" Harry turned to look at the irate woman.

"Yes Professor?"

"Sit down and explain yourself." Harry smiled amicably and seated himself.

"Well Professor, you said earlier that the purpose of this class was to pass the Defense Against the Dark Arts O.W.L. If that is the case then I _**am**_ undoubtedly in the wrong class. I pay two thousand Galleons in tuition per year in order to learn practical application of magic. Similarly my mother and father set up an endowment to make the school affordable for muggle-raised witches and wizards, with the provision that it be used to provide them with an education which will enable them to '**Use magic proficiently as a means of self-defense, and for the betterment of their day-to-day life**.' As far as I am concerned an O.W.L.-prep course is not what they had in mind for their son or for their investments. I am formally excusing myself so that I can register for a class where I will learn practical self-defense, rather than theory. And to learn the opinion of the executor of my parents' estate in regards to the endowment and this class, I'll make sure your notified of the result. Now if you'll excuse me." And with that Harry walked out leaving a dumbfounded Umbridge and a shocked class behind.

Harry sat in silence stroking Fawkes as he watched his mentor view the pensive memory of his confrontation. Dumbledore rose and faced Harry with his eye's glistening with tears of laugher.

"Excelent! Well played Harry!" Dumbledore said clapping his hands.

"I thought you'd enjoy it" Harry replied smugly.

"I must say I was curious about how you were going to handle the situation." Dumbledore said.

"So…do you think we could swing it so that we can get rid of Umbridge?" Harry asked as he scratched a very happy Fawkes.

"Sadly the situation remains that I can't find a suitable teacher as her replacement. At best she'll be forced to change her course objectives."

"And at worst?"

"You'll withdraw from her class and that will be that."

"Pity we can't just get Snape to teach the class."

"Yes, but until it's made public that I'm not a raving lunatic, Slughorn refuses to return. The man cares to much about image to risk getting it tarnished."

"Ah well, shall I call Sirius and get him to sign the form to withdraw me from class?"

"Patience Harry. Let's hold off and see how this pans out."

"You're the kind of man who loves watching train wrecks aren't you."

"Harry! Such cruel words!" Dumbledore feigned shock

"I'm sure you'll survive." Harry remarked dryly as he pulled a moleskin sack out of his pocket. And levitated it over to the headmaster "Here are the items I told you about. I hope you can figure out more than I could."

"I'll let you know what I find out. I'm sure your curious to know the results?"

"Of course, well I better go meet my friends." Harry said rising from his seat. "Oh, by the way Snape gave me detention for tomorrow so I can meet you then."

"Dare I ask what happened?"

"Just ask him for the pensive memory, its worth a laugh"

"I look forward to it. Until dinner Harry."

"HARRY!" said teen looked up to see Hermione and the rest of the Gryffindors running over.

"Brilliant mate!" Ron shouted clapping his friend on the shoulder.

"I haven't the faintest idea what your talking about." Harry said calmly.

"You should've seen it!" Seamus exclaimed "Umbridge just stared at the door for a full five minutes, then she got really angry and tried to took away one hundred points!"

"McGonagall walked in as class ended and asked what was going on!" Hermione added breathlessly

"We…" Dean began shouting his opinion and Harry smiled a little as he replayed the plan in his head.

"_By the end of the week Dolores Umbridge will be a joke. By the end of the month the school will be restless. Then they will be ready for you Harry. Until then we continue to play the martyrs."_


	8. One more story, a Horcrux and a Hallow

{Chapter 8: One night and One more story, a horcrux and a hollow}

Harry and Dumbledore crawled out of the water onto the rock ledge inside of the dank seaside cave.

"You know I am rapidly growing to dislike Riddle the more we search around these idiotic soul fragments." Harry grumbled.

"It's an adventure Harry. Or would you have rather we had stayed at school and studied more memories of Tom's life?" Dumbledore asked as they quickly cast drying charms.

"Doesn't mean I enjoy getting seaweed inside my pants on brisk autumn evenings." Harry replied as they approached a wall. After a second of looking at it Harry growled.

"Blood! Blood as the key!"

Dumbledore sliced the grumbling teen's arm and smeared the blood over the necessary piece of stone as the 'donor' healed the cut.

"When I find him I'm going to slice off both his arms, give him a tongue piercing, shove a pike right up his-"

"You really are over thinking this you know?" Albus cut in as the wall opened and they entered the main cavern, which was complete with underground saltwater lake. Looking into the depths Harry chuckled.

"Inferi, Albus. He must be insane to think that's a deterrent." The ebony haired teen pulled out his wand from a holster on his belt and began chanting. After a few moments Harry's wand tip glowed white and snowflakes fell from the air. Stepping up to the water's edge Harry thrust the tip into the lake just as an inferius reached up to grab its 'victim'. The poor meat puppet didn't stand a chance.

The moment the tip of Harry's wand touched the lake, the body of water began freezing. Within a few seconds the whole lake was a giant ice rink and the poor undead monsters were trapped below the surface.

Without a word both Harry and Albus transfigured their boots into ice skates and skated out to the island in the center of the cave.

Once there the two walked up to the podium in center of the island holding a stone basin, which held a clear potion that glowed eerily. At the bottom lay a simple locket. Harry raised a single eyebrow.

"Well, that is 5 points to Slytherin for special effects"

Looking at the potion Dumbledore did a quick analysis charm.

"Looks like one of us has to drink it" Dumbledore muttered darkly. Harry frowned and pointed his wand at the bottom of the potion. Suddenly a locket flew out of the potion into his hand.

"I didn't think Tom would be so careless" Dumbledore said in disbelief.

"He wasn't" Harry growled "It's a fake!" Albus' expression darkened as he took the locket from Harry. Quickly opening the piece of jewelry a piece of parchment fluttered out.

"What's it say" Dumbledore ignored the younger wizards question for a second.

"It says that Regulus Arcturus Black wasn't such a loyal Death Eater." Harry summoned the peace of parchment to his hand and read it.

".." Harry's voice staccatoed each syllable.

"Quite"

"We spent two weeks trying to get something we already had!" The teen's voice was a hiss.

The two stood in silence for a moment then Harry walked up to a rock and tapped it with his wand.

"What are you doing Harry?" Albus asked clearly bewildered.

"I'm making a present for Tom" Harry spat as he transfigured the rock he'd tapped into it's base elements.

"A bomb?" Albus' voice held clear amusement.

"Not just any bomb. This thing will take out the cave, the cliff outside, the ground above us, and hopefully a few square kilometers of the landscape. Now, help me transmutate a few tons on magnesium and lets paint it on the walls. If Tom tries to check on his soul piece I want to hear a boom." Harry said with a maniacal grin.

One hour later the entire cave was a shining death trap. Elemental magnesium plated the walls, the ceiling was totally covered in Potassium. All the water that had made up the lake was now in the form of pure hydrogen and oxygen, all the atmospheric nitrogen and the inferi in the lake had been converted into the various explosive compounds which lined the room. The lake was now filled halfway with nitroglycerin and the entrance to the cave was equipped with an alarm that would release the three ward charged magma-erupting runic summons AND the stasis charm that held the whole room in total inactivity.

"It's a work of art" Harry said as they sealed up the door and removed any signs of their presence.

"It'll do Harry, it'll do." Dumbledore replied in a subdued tone as they apparated to Hogsmeade. Entering the Hogs Head (At Harry's insistence the two brothers had started to work on their strained relationship. Actually after Harry chewed both of the aged wizards out for being idiots they had united for the first time in ten years to shot him with a duel bludgeoning hex and shut him up. It was one of the many occasions Harry wished he had not progressed to the point where he was immune to the stunning spell.) Albus and Harry quickly traveled Aberforth's secret passage into the school, and changed into their 'school clothes'.

School had reached a sort of cycle now. Classes where Harry now slept with his eyes open and a locomotion charm on himself so that he appeared to be awake and taking notes. Every time the teacher called on him he would wake up, use Legilimency to get the question from a classmate, answer, and then go back to sleep. After the first week or so the teachers gave up trying to catch him zoning out, since whenever they accused him of it he could explain in detail everything the teacher had covered so far that class. In Potions Snape would: 'tutor' Harry via legilimency, occasionally engaging in a mental assault as Harry approached the crucial part of the potion he was brewing, and find a way to give him detention every class. Snape was aware that detention meant that he and Potter would be dueling, an activity Snape took great pleasure in, ironically these duels had become Harry's preferred evening exercise. After classes Harry would hang out with his friends make sure that everyone knew he was a perfectly sane and healthy individual. Usually making a show of demonstrating his skill at defensive spells and helping some of the other students with their assignments. At five every morning he would sneak into Dumbledore's office and the two wizards would use the time turner to travel, train, and tutor for fifteen hours. Originally it had only been for seven hours but a week into the semester the duo broke into the Department of Mysteries a second time and 'borrowed' another timeturner, one capable of traveling back eight hours. They would appear at seven for breakfast in the great hall and the cycle repeated.

At Dumbledore's suggestion Harry took turns sitting with all four house tables at the meals and encouraged his friends to do the same. That drastically improved his relationship with the other students. The Slytherin table always refused his offer but he asked periodically just to bother them. Hagrid had returned in mid October. Ron was turning out to be an excellent keeper, he'd won the spot with little opposition. At Harry's insistence Angelina had made a reserve team so that they could all scrimmage. Umbridge was appointed High Inquisitor by Fudge and most of the school was officially sick of her. Despite her best attempts, she failed to find a way to get Harry to attend classes. Since there was nothing barring his ability to formally withdrawal so long as he had a letter of authorization from his legal guardian, which Sirius had eagerly provided, she couldn't do anything.

"_So what's next_?" Harry asked telepathically as the two disillusioned men made their way to the Room of Requirement.

"_It is only midnight. So, we have plenty of time to work on your apparition_." Albus was definitely an exacting man. Some would be impressed that a wizard Harry's age was even capable of apparating. Many would be amazed that the same wizard was capable of _silent_apparition. Most would be dumbfounded when the discovered the same wizard could silently apparate _without_ a wand, but Albus wanted more. For the past week the Sorcerer had been working on teaching his apprentice how to apparate while _inside_ wards. It had started with him apparating a few paces distance while inside an anti-apparition ward. Line of sight apparition being the easiest method of apparating, and anti-apparition wards being all but impervious when attached to physical structures, the only real apparition that could be accomplished within Hogwart's was short near-instantaneos trips through open space. After countless painful accidents Harry finally mastered the task. He was then forced to do the same task silently, then wandlessly, then silently and wandlessly and finally wandlessly silently and blindfolded. After he had succeeded in doing that the next step had been doing the same task once every two seconds for a minute. Harry had splinched off his legs, arms, and half his stomach before succeeding on his last attempt.

"_Great, so what insane exercise do you have now_?" apprehension accompanied Harry's mental message. Instead of responding Dumbledore just walked into the Room of Requirement. Harry followed into the room and the door vanished from behind him.

"Why?" Harry didn't even hide his despair as he looked at the room. It was filled with pillars with small protruding ledges at random intervals, the walls were now mirrors, ropes dangling from the ceiling, massive perpetually spinning blades levitating about a meter off the ground whizzed around the room with no noticeable pattern, once every five seconds massive sharpened railroad spikes came up through the floor before merging into the ground, and hundreds of doxies flitted around the room not yet aware of his presence.

Without warning a bludgeoning hex whizzed toward Harry's head from above. Instinctively sidestepping the spell and looking up towards the area of his attacker Harry growled at the silver haired man grinning in amusement from atop his flying carpet.

"Think fast Harry" Heeding the old man's words, Harry apparated up to the nearest rope just as a spinning blade whipped past where he had been standing.

"Are you trying to kill me?" Harry shouted angrily. Dumbledore's smile grew wider and Harry let go of the rope just as a doxy was about to bite his hand. '_I am __**NOT**__ doing this poisoned!_' Harry landed on the floor without breaking anything (courtesy of the cushioning charm he was now casting almost instinctively) and rolled to a standing position. Firing a several splintering stunners which expanded outwards like buckshot. Before Harry could attack the doxies further Albus struck him with a vicious pain hex, causing the boy to stumble and cut his leg on one of the spikes on the ground.

"Keep Moving Harry" the old man's voice ordered.

Growling Harry rolled to the side avoiding the older man's various hexes. Once behind one of the pillars Harry quickly healed his cut and apparated to behind another pillar.

To his surprise, Albus appeared next to him and delivered a magically enhanced kick to the younger man's gut simultaneously hitting him with a powerful disarmer. Harry watched in horror as Dumbledore apparated away with his wand. '_The Mirrors! They weren't to confuse me they were so that I couldn't hide!_' Harry apparated up to one of the stone ledges near the ceiling of the room and had to leap away from the wall as a conjured fireball crashed into the stone ledge. Harry grabbed one of the ropes hanging from the ceiling and swung across the room with as much agility as he could. As per usual Albus predicted his apprentice's move and transfigured one of the ropes several animated strands of bailing wire that quickly began wrapping around the younger man. Harry apparated to the ground to avoid being hit with the bolt of lightning Albus fired at his apprentice. '_Figures he would come up with a way to turn apparition training into a duel!_' The irate teen leapt to the side as another of the perpetually spinning blades made a pass in an attempt to cut open his stomach. Albus decided to make their match a little more fun by conjuring an enormous amount of water in the form of several thousand orbs the size of bowling balls, freezing the orbs and firing his newly formed projectiles at the ebony haired boy. Upon seeing the attack Harry dodged, ducked, and disapparated out of the way as quickly as possible running and dodging along the mirrored walls causing the walls and the icy projectiles to crack and shatter on impact. After the first few dozen balls cracked Harry found that the orbs began acting like homing missiles, changing direction to hit their target. In order to avoid being crushed by a trio of incoming icy projectiles Harry apparated into a group of doxies. Acting quickly he wandlessly banished the little monsters at Dumbledore and watched with satisfaction as the older wizard instinctively incinerated them. Unfortunatly his moment of satisfaction resulted in him being clipped by one of the ice balls. Angrily, Harry whipped out a boot knife he had taken to carrying and sliced the offending object in half by focusing his magic through the blade. Upon doing so the orb exploded outwards firing bits of icy shrapnel into his skin. Harry disapparated onto the ground and rolled sideways, barely avoiding a dozen icy projectiles which crashed down on him. His movements caused him to almost be impaled by a railroad spike which flew out of the ground like a bullet and cut through his robes. With a magically enhanced jump Harry lept up onto a ledge three meters above him. Upon landing he had to apparate across the room to avoid a salvo of piercing spells, which cut through the stone pillars like tissue paper. Landing amongst a group of doxies Harry used his knife to vivisect the poisonous irritations. Once again Harry disapparated away to avoid a series of the icy balls which shattered against the stone floor and wall. He reappeared flush against the edge of the doomed ceiling trying to remain inconspicuous for a momentary rest. Dumbledore had other plans and Harry had to disapparate to avoid a massive stone fist that blasted through the ceiling, causing large rocks to fall to the ground leaving a gaping hole to the outer world. Harry apparated up to the ledge nearest to his mentor and threw the knife at Albus, who summoned one of the ice orbs block the blade, Harry wandlessly banished the ball of ice at the older wizard.

With great surprise Harry watched the orb collide with the older wizard. Apparating next to the older man Harry snatched his wand away from the older man's slackened grasp just as five of the ice orbs hit his back, his left shoulder, his right hip, and his right elbow with sickening crunches. Harry let out a loud shout of anguish just as Dumbledore hit him with a variant of Snape's _sectumsempra_. Unfortunately, Harry wasn't wearing (nor was he allowed to wear) his armor during training and his hastily cast shield didn't completely block the invisible blade as it cut through his chest and shoulder leaving a long bleeding wound. Apparating to the ground below he conjured a dome of iron around him and began quickly wrote a few anti-magic runes on the structure with his own blood as Albus' first attack hit the barrier.

_**BANG!**_

Harry healed the wound from Albus' _sectumsempra_.

_**BANG!**_

The first crack began to form as Harry quickly cast his favorite bone-mending spells on his recent injuries.

_**BANG! CRAAAACK!**_

Harry apparated five paces to the left of where he had been just as the iron was reduced to a piece of rusted red-hot scrap metal.

Not wasting a second Harry conjured on million needles of sharpened glass and banished them at his mentor. Rather than try and block the attack Albus apparated to the ground just as Harry let loose a jet of flames, which incinerated the flying carpet where the older man had been standing. Harry apparated to the farthest corner of the room as about twenty of the icy orbs that had been whizzing around the room crashed into the ground where he had been standing. Unfortunately, Albus once again predicted his pupil's destination and banished all of the remaining ice orbs at his apprentice. Harry disapparated away from the position quickly but not before having his jaw, two ribs and his left hand broken. Casting a sticking charm on the soles of his shoes he apparated so that he was hanging from the ceiling upside down above his mentor.

Dumbledore looked around the room quickly for a few moments before he heard the crack of Harrys' bones snapping into place. If he was fazed by his apprentice's location, it didn't show. Not waiting for a second he fired a bolt of lightning at his apprentice, who disapparated just as the bolt of lightning vaporized a segment of the ceiling with a bang. Not stopping Albus unleashed several waves of fire turning the room into one massive inferno, killing the remaining doxies, and ruining the mirrored walls. Both Harry and Albus cast Bubble-head and flame retardent charms on themsemselves. The fire, which was rapidly dissipating, wasn't worth extinguishing, as it would be gone in a few minutes. Instead Dumbledore pulverized the already melting orbs of ice and formed them into a massive golem, which Harry opted to avoid rather than destroy. Apparating close to his master he cast a piercing hex at the older man's chest, Albus, having cast a dueling shield on his hand, blocked the spell with it and returned the attack with a conjured flame whip. Harry stumbled backwards to avoid the concentrated flames just as one of the floors spikes flew out of the ground cutting his calf open. Harry fell into the flames and quickly apparated away before the flames could do any real damage. Hiding behind one of the stone pillars Harry healed his leg. Not a moment after he finished he had to dodge the fist of Dumbledore's ice golem, which seemed unaffected by the stifling heat.

Harry apparated up to the highest of the ledges in the room and began conjuring as much water as he could and watched at the room filled with water so that the ledge he stood on just barely remained above the surface. The Ice Golem was now floating on the surface thrashing in vain as it tried to reach it's target. With a quick grin Harry, Bubble-charm intact, apparated to the bottom of the room. To his surprise Dumbledore was not there.

'_Where did he…?_' Harry looked up at the surface of the water through the blurry surface he could see Dumbledore hanging from the ceiling, high and dry.

'_no, No, NO!_'

Harry tried to apparate, but he wasn't fast enough. Dumbledore shot a bolt of lightning into the water and Harry felt pure pain as he almost blacked out. Luckily his apparition landed him on the dry roof of the room. Harry quickly healed himself and gasped in pain as he magically repaired his palpitating body.

"To predictable Harry" Albus's voice struck fear into Harry's heart. The last thing Harry felt was pain.

"Get. Up."

Harry blinked his eyes open and looked up at his antagonist. The pair where at the bottom of the destroyed room the majority of the ceiling lay in pieces around them and the majority of the water was gone from the room.

"I suppose I deserved that for returning fire during an apparition practice?" The teen asked groggily as he pulled himself to a standing position.

"No I just wanted to judge your practical progress" Dumbledore replied calmly as he began fixing the ceiling above them.

"So how long did it take for you to set up this deathtrap?" Harry mumbled, clearing his head and casting drying and mending charms on his recently ruined school clothes.

"About five minutes last night."

"I wonder if anyone heard us." Harry wondered aloud, conjuring a mirror and looking over his school robes to make sure they were fixed.

"Peeves will be more than willing to take the blame as usual." Dumbledore's blasé attitude had a soothing effect on Harry's personality. A few months ago this sort of evening activity had left the teen in crippling state of perpetual angst.

"Maybe so, but I can't help wondering how much longer we'll have to wait before Umbridge finally figures something out." Dumbledore nodded absently as he looked over the recently repaired ceiling with a critical eye.

"What's next?" Harry asked stretching his back causing it to emit several loud cracks.

"You are still to predictable, an opponent with more power than me could easily dispatch you." Dumbledore said a trace of exasperation hidden in his voice.

"Then what are we worried about? You're the strongest wizard alive." Harry's reply caused Dumbledore's eyes to flash with annoyance.

"You are still such a foolish boy!" The older man said darkly. Harry frowned.

"Pardon?"

"How can you truly not understand the situation? I am a weak decrepit has-been Harry!" Dumbledore's voice was full of barely contained anger.

"You're being modest again. I've seen some of your fights in pensive memories. You and Grindelwald make Riddle look like a child by comparison!" Harry said with a smile.

"Exactly I _used _to be that powerful! Now Tom is infinitely more powerful than me!" Dumbledore's voice came out as a growl. "Do you think honestly think I would let Tom draw another breath if I had the power to stop him?"

"Of course not" Harry said quietly as comprehension dawned on him. "But you? You are more powerful-" Harry said quickly.

"NO! I'm strong, stronger than any wizard in the British Isles! But the weakest of your classmates has more raw power than I do now!"

"What are you talking about?" Harry shouted back. "You're _THE_ Albus Dumbledore you are the closest thing to Merlin that…" Dumbledore cut him off.

"YOU FOOL! I **WAS** THE MOST POWERFUL! I HAVE _NOTHING! _MY STRENGTH IS GONE! I LOST IT THE DAY I FOUGHT GRINDELWALD!" Harry looked dumbfounded.

"w-what?" Dumbledore's eyes shined with years of pent-up rage.

"Before we fought Grindelwald prepared a curse. A curse that would take away the life and magic of any man who defeated him. He sacrificed one hundred thousand human beings, killed for no reason other than senseless hate. The day I beat him I lost almost all of my magic. I couldn't kill him or I would die. Did you really think I locked him away out of some moral code? Did you really think I would risk him escaping back into the world over something so abstract? I locked him up so that I could survive and ensure his followers didn't rise up again. It was a _BLUFF_! I wanted everyone to believe that I was still strong enough to defeat him if he did escape. I wanted to play the pacifist to make sure everyone saw me as larger than life. I made the wizarding world believe I was powerful, so powerful that no one would even think to rise up and take his place. But, I have the same amount of raw magic as Argus Filch." Dumbledore finished.

"B-but you use magic constantly. You are a _Master_ of magic" Objected Harry. Dumbledore sighed and gave Harry a tired look.

"Yes that is why I can still use magic at all. I mastered magic well enough that I can use the ambient magic around me to perform spells. Alchemy, transfiguration, most charms, potions, and elemental spells all allow me to draw on the ambient magic around me. My magical core is hollow now, so I can use it to gather magic around me and cast spells."

"So you have an infinite supply of magic?" Harry couldn't keep the incredulousness out of his tone.

"Far from it. I can't draw the large quantities of magic necessary to use the spells I had in my arsenal against Grindelwald. I can't use any curse higher than NEWT level. There is a reason I have you duel Severus. It isn't that I don't want to use high level curses it's that I _can't_ I have had to rely on spells like Severus' _Sectumsempra _and the like. I can't summon massive sentient dragons from Norway to aid me in battle or use the killing curse because it requires too much raw magic. I have to form spells from the magic around me. I _need _to perform magic to remain alive. If I didn't cast a spell or if I didn't have one cast on me for a week I would die. Before I fought Gellert, my core was large enough that I could have lived to the age of four hundred easily, as it is my life is almost over I barely have another two years left at best."

Harry just stood there with a look of disbelief on his face.

'_He can't be…he-he…_'

"You're Dying" It was a statement. But Dumbledore nodded sagely in acknowledgment.

'_How? I can't do this alone! I won't do this alone!_'

"It's twelve fifty-seven we're leaving." Harry said abruptly. Dumbledore watched in confusion as his apprentice began pulling the acromantula silk/manticore armor out of an infinitely expanded pocket.

"What are you doing?" the older man asked.

"Changing" Harry used a switching spell and shrunk his school robes.

"Why?" Harry turned to face Dumbledore with a slight frown.

"I have two years left. Two bloody years until I am stuck with this mess! _WE_ are going horcrux hunting, we'll turn this whole bloody island upside down! You and I are going to find a Horcrux tonight or die trying. You're going to do the best day's work you've ever done!" Harry stormed out of the room, and an amused Albus followed. The two whipped down the halls, Harry ignoring all pretense of stealth. by the time the duo were at the main hall Harry had stunned two prefects, Mrs. Norris, and a pair of sixth year Hufflepuffs who where trying to sneak into a empty classroom. As the two marched across the school lawn towards Hogsmeade, and the edge of the anti-apparition wards, Albus broke the silence.

"Where do you intend to begin your search?"

"Little Hangleton, His father and mother lived there." Harry's voice held great irritation, stemming from his recently obtained knowledge about his master's looming death.

The two reached the edge of the barrier and Harry side-along apparated them into the Riddle graveyard.

"Now what, Harry? How do you plan to find a needle in a field of haystacks?" Harry twitched his hand in annoyance.

"Now we search for high magic areas. This is a _muggle_ town, a Horcrux will stick out worse than Ludo Bagman at a corporate muggle dinner."

Two hours of scanning later the two wizards stood outside of a rundown shack with a snake nailed to the door.

"Subtle" Harry's sarcasm cut through the quiet night.

"We should probably try and dismantle the wards before-" Harry pointed his wand at the structure and was casting before Albus could finish.

"Mitter Infernus: Consumere cum flamma pila!"

The shack in front of them exploded in a massive pillar of flame. Dumbledore looked at Harry.

"You really do need to learn how to express yourself in grammatically correct sentences. That was atrocious." The older man chastised.

"It worked" Harry shrugged and began walking up to the burning rubble casting bludgeoning hexs and cutting spells at the remains of the building.

"How do you intend to find a Horcrux now Harry? It could be anywhere or nowhere and there are undoubtedly anti-summoning charms on it."

"Of course, but _we_ are wizards. _Extinguere! Pruina!_" Once the flames vanished and the remains were cooled Harry raised his wand into the air and focused on his magic.

"Accio, object nearest to Horcrux!" Harry and Dumbledore watched as a pebble flew of the ground and whizzed past Harry's head.

"I didn't think I could do that." Harry said surprised by his success.

"Magic surprises us sometimes." Dumbledore said sagely as he walked up to where the pebble had been. Another few attempts, and a great deal of vanishing charms, and the two wizards were looking at a small slightly soot covered ring.

"This must be it." Harry said levitating the object into the air. "Who knows what curses are on this thing."

Dumbledore frowned and cast a _scougify _on the levitating ring. The dirt fell away and the ring remained there hovering. It's gold band shining in the moonlight.

"Maybe we should destroy it here." When Albus didn't respond Harry glanced at the older man. Albus looked pale his eyes were wide and glazed over.

"The stone!" Dumbledore's voice was a hoarse whisper. "All these years, it was here all these years. Tom was wearing it on his hand at Hogwarts and it was right there, right there, all those years…" Dumbledore reached out to grab the ring but Harry moved faster. He hit Dumbledore with a disarmer and quickly conjured ropes around the crazed man.

"Snap out of it!" He shouted at the old man.

"The stone, Harry! Give me the STONE!" Albus' eyes were wild he thrashed in his bindings. Harry, in fear, did the first thing that came to mind.

"Somnus…" Albus motions slowed, as Harry continued chanting Albus' struggling lessened, and after a few minutes he stilled.

"Fawkes!" Harry shouted out. The phoenix appeared in a burst of flame.

"Hey can you take this ring back to the office?" Harry gestured to the floating ring. Fawkes turned her head towards Albus and back to Harry questioningly.

"It's something about the ring. I can't let him wake up with it here. I'll get him back to Hogwarts. Promise." Casting a final look at Albus, Fawkes snatched the ring and burst into flame.

"Now the fun part" Harry muttered summoning Albus' wand from the ground and leveling his own wand at the older wizard. "_Enerverate_"

The older man stirred and looked around blearily.

"I am far to old for this sort of thing. I'm sure there are other men closer to your age who would be much more enjoyable." Harry just blinked he didn't flinch at the mental image that now permanently scar his consciousness, nor did he lower his wand from where it was trained.

"Tell me the last thing you remember." Harry's voice was cold and level. Harry watched as comprehension dawned on Dumbledore's features, closely followed by a look of shame. Harry sighed and vanished the older mans bindings.

"Care to tell me why that ring caused you to behave like a lunatic?" Harry said calmly offering the older man a hand up. Albus accepted the offered hand and rose slowly. Without warning the older wizard hit Harry with an uppercut, pulled the younger man forward knee-ed him in the gut, and wandlessly banished him into the ground. Harry tried to roll away and hit the older man with a decapitating curse, but Albus proved faster. The older man dropped to the ground and slammed a hand into the charred earth. Then just before the curse left Harry's wand the ground split apart and a geyser of boiling water launched Harry into the air, knocking the wind out of him and ripping away layers of his skin. The youth's descent was less then graceful and it was only the months of training to roll when falling that saved him from impacting headfirst into the ground with enough force to cause blood and spinal fluid to start leaking out of his ears. As it was he landed roughly and was then banished across the ground causing his already burned and torn skin to rip away from his body in chunks. His violent crash course ended with Albus apparating into his apprentice's flight path and stopping it with a well-positioned kick to the younger mans chest. Dumbledore disarmed his apprentice quickly and cast a few healing spells on his burnt, bloodied, and bruised pupil.

"What the hell was that for?" Harry managed to gasp out as his wounds healed.

"You disarmed me, I needed to return the favor. I can't let my wand forget its master. And my wand does have it's special condition." Albus replied casually.

"Because merely breaking my wrist and taking it wouldn't suffice. You had to remove thirty percent of my epidermis, break my jaw, and bruise a few of my internal organs. " Harry croaked out from his prone position.

"I am also a bit of a sore loser." Dumbledore replied, amusement twinkling in his eyes. Harry just stared at the older man incredulously for a few moments before giving up on trying to understand the insanity that was Albus Dumbledore.

"You going to tell me about the reason I had to put you to sleep now?" Dumbledore looked at Harry and the older man's face aged before the youth's eyes.

"Your cloak, my wand, and that was the stone." Dumbledore said in a sort of grim resolution. Harry's mind raced.

'_Elder Wand, Cloak of Invisibility, and..._' Harry's lips formed a grin and he began laughing.

"You're kidding? He had the Stone and he left in an old shack? That idiot!" Dumbledore looked pensive for a moment and began smiling.

"Hard to believe he walked around Hogwarts wearing it for two years." The older man added amusement beginning to surface in his voice.

"And they didn't even know what they had! You said my dad knew about the Cloak right?"

"Yes, it took a great deal of effort to get him to lend it to me to study. I still can't believe the Gaunts never realized what they possessed." Harry smirked

"Well, you know they did do that inbreeding thing..."

"You know as well as I do that magic prevents any adverse physical effects in magical families"

"Yeah but by the time they're inbreeding they've already gone off the deep end." Harry quipped as he pulled himself to a standing position.

"Ready to head back to school? I already gave Fawkes the ring. So she'll be there waiting for us." With a nod Dumbledore disapparated, Harry followed and the two landed in an alcove on the farside of Hogwart's lake outside the schools anti-apparition wards. The duo snuck back into the school through a passage, which deposited them at the base of the battlements of the castle's east wing. From there the two slipped in through a spiral staircase hidden inside the fountain in the gardens. Once inside the two disillusioned wizards quickly reached the headmaster's office. Slipping past the Gargoyle and into the office they were greeted by Fawkes' trill of elation. Now that the two wizards were suitably calmed they spent time carefully analyzing the ring.

"Interesting curse, definitely fatal." Dumbledore said abscently viewing the piece of jewelry.

"I can smell his soul on it" Harry grumbled walking over to a case and pulling out Gryffindors' sword.

"So do we hack this thing up or try something else?" He asked unsheathing the blade.

"Let's hold off on utterly destroying thousand year old artifacts for a moment shall we?" Dumbledore replied reaching into his desk and pulling out a few crystal vials filled with clear fluids. "Fetch me the Fairy Blood would you Harry." The teen sheathed the sword, and walked up to one of the portraits of the sleeping headmasters.

"Fudge is an ignoramus." the portrait fell from the wall and Harry caught it in his left hand as he reached through the stone wall, which shimmered like rippling water. After pulling out a golden orb inscribed with runes, he placed the Portrait back on the wall and walked over to where Albus had set up a stone table and was carving a few runes into a shallow marble basin.

"What's the plan?" Albus took a blood quill and drew three circles on the base of the basin.

"I think we should try to dissociate the different properties of the ring." Harry frowned.

"Doesn't a Horcrux resist dissociation?" Dumbledore nodded and took the gold orb from Harry's hand.

"Yes that's why I want to separate the parts of the ring. There are three intangible components in this object: The Horcrux, the Ressurection Stone's magic, and Tom's spellwork. There are also three tangible components in this ring: The stone and the band, which is composed of gold and zinc alloy."

"Real high class workmanship that is." Harry said humorously. "Thousand year old artifact and they didn't even use pure gold!"

"Twenty-four karat gold may have been out of the Gaunt's budget Harry. Not everyone has been as financially gifted as the Potters. Charge those runes Harry, go counter-clockwise skip every other one, and keep charging them until all of them are ready. Now hand me the fairy's blood. Right, place one crystallized acromantula tear on the sigma anchor rune and smear two grams of the aconite ash over the fidelity seal opposite that..." Ten minutes of rapid movement and precise measurements later Harry and Albus looked into the basin at their finished product.

"Did it work?" Harry asked cautiously looking into the glowing basin. Sure enough sitting at the bottom was the small stone of the ring, and two amorphous blobs of metal. Reaching in, Dumbledore pulled out the stone and examined it.

"I believe it did, the stone is free of the Horcrux and the curses."

"Can I dispose of the other byproducts? Riddle's soul is making me nauseas." Albus nodded and Harry pointed his wand into the basin.

"Consumera Malum Spiritus: FiendFyre-DEVORARA!"

A giant flaming gryphon's head exploded out of Harry's wand and vaporized the Basin, the stone table, and the rug beneath it within seconds. The moment Harry finished the invocation, he was already completed chanting the four line sealing spell. Luckily, with the extended invocation and limiting keywords, Harry's control over the spell had improved. So after their initial assault, the flames weakened and only scorched and cracked the stone floor of Dumbledore's office.

After vanishing the deadly flames, Harry collapsed against the wall and looked over at his master.

Dumbledore looked up from his desk where he was using alchemy to form a new band for the stone.

"We trained, destroyed a Horcrux, torched Riddle's family estate, set up enough explosives to destroy a few dozen acres of England, had a little spar and completed the Deathly Hallows all before sunrise. Not bad for a night's work, right?" The older man smiled tiredly.

"Don't forget stunning students and taking dip in the Atlantic ocean Harry." Harry frowned

"Or how you are ditching me in two years for the next great adventure? What am I going to do with you leave? You're the only reason Grindelwald's Lieutenants haven't been out in the open for the past fifty years. They aren't going to sit around with you gone. The only reason they aren't out in force now is they think that would bring you out of retirement." Dumbledore sighed and leaned back in his chair.

"I don't know Harry. I just don't know anymore. I was actually considering spending this spring seeking them out and offering concessions." Harry looked at him in alarm.

"But, recently I've been changing my mind about how to do that. The only way they would agree to restrict their future expansion following my death is if I offered something more advantageous then allowing them to try and re-establish themselves through terrorism." Albus locked eyes with Harry and the teen's eyes widened.

"You don't mean…?" Harry's voice squeaked nervously.

"I get it, this is a joke right? You really scared me there." Harry said forcing a laugh. Dumbledore continued looking directly into Harry's eyes with a blank expression.

"No, NO WAY! You aren't seriously considering…YOU ARE TOTALLY BAT-SHIT INSANE! WE HAVE MORE THAN ENOUGH TROUBLE ALREADY!"

"Calm yourself Harry it will be simple-" Harry cut Albus off.

"Calm down! You are suggesting we try to _threaten_, _kill _or _blackmail_ the remaining **FIVE!** of Grindelwalds' High Command!"

"What better gift than allowing someone to live? And we won't kill all of them. If we did, the remaining forces would schism and break the tentative stability that their covert empires provide resulting in open warfare on three continents."

"So what you're suggesting is that we kill a few of them and make an alliance via unbreakable oath with the remainder?"

"Exactly. With two of the leaders remaining, they will consolidate territories with relative ease. It will be a relatively bloodless transition, and with the oaths we will force them to swear… They will be entirely without the ability to cause a violent upheaval. We aren't dealing with hotheads Harry. Some of these men are upwards of one hundred and twenty years old. They will be much more receptive to our negotiations if we offer them the territories of three of their ex-comrades." Harry was quiet for a moment.

"And what if the two remaining decide they wish to unite under a common flag? What then?" Dumbledore smiled and Harry saw a cold glint in his mentor's eyes.

"They won't unite. The only reason they united under Grindelwald was he had them under his thumb. He put a curseseal on Malvolio after possessing Malvolio's sister and holding her hostage. He defeated Marik, Tizoc, and he hunted down and bested Yefimovich. The only reason Kimball joined them was because he had lost a duel against Malvolio, and Gellert's plans offered a chance for Kimball to expand his own diminuative sphere of influence."

"So we are going after Marik, Tizoc, and Yefimovich. Then, we split up their territory between Malvolio and Kimball and watch them kill each other? How do we even know they will accept our offer?"

"I am almost sixty percent sure that they won't kill each other. I still don't know how to go about this. Tizoc, Marik, and Kimball have assisted in creating horrible living conditions for the majority of those living within their sphere of influence. Malvolio has a very laisez faire way of handling the world around him. His authority is absolute but he chooses not to use it for the most part. Yefimovich magically supported the soviet government and established himself with it. The size, and his control, over the territories he rules has been waning since the fall of the soviet government."

"So with the exception of Malvolio we are dealing with ruthless unyielding forces, with control issues." Harry summarized.

"Indeed, if he were not so disinterested with the plights facing the world I would have sought him out as an ally long ago."

"So Malvolio is safe, but what of Kimball?" Dumbledore frowned.

"I would rather make a treaty with Tom than with Kimball. I don't even have a clue as to how we can handle him." Harry looked pensive.

"What if you didn't die?" Albus started.

"Harry you don't mean-"

"Not a Horcrux or anything like that!" Harry interrupted.

"There are other things which can extend your life. We could infect you with Lycanthropy that would grant you some magic of your own. Or we could obtain some willingly given unicorn and phoenix blood and offer it to Flamel in exchange for some elixer of life. It doesn't need to be much just enough for a few years."

Albus opened his mouth to object but words didn't come out. After a moment of silence Albus found his voice.

"You may have something there Harry! With another two years I could easily get you on fighting level with Yefimovich or Malik. If we then conviced Malvolio to be our ally we might not have to deal with the others."

"Would Malvolio really be willing to ally himself with a dying old man and a punk kid? Against four other Dark Lords?" Doubt was evident in his tone.

"In our current situation? No. But, if you were to prove yourself capable of fighting toe-to-toe alone with one of the other lieutenants, he might be willing to take the risk. Malvolio despised everyone in the old guard excepting Jacques and Malik, he would probably be willing to accept our offer if we showed that you were a competent, intelligent, and powerful individual. He probably wants revenge on all of his old "comrades," a revenge we can give him.'" Harry lips twitched into a smile.

"So I've got to kill Riddle, the Death Eaters, and one of Grindelwald's lieutenants? Piece of cake." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled maniacally.

"We might not even need to do that much. I have a faster method."

Harry's smile spread from ear to ear.

"Do tell"


	9. Montage

{Chapter 9: Montage: The way to pass the time!}

"Hey Harry" The youth in question looked over at the speaker, waving at the other boy to get his attention.

The red-haired teen, Hermione, Dean, Seamus, and Neville walked across the grassy grounds of Hogwarts to Harry, who was lounging on a tree limb unraveling a sock's threads and re-sewing the article of clothing- using wandless levitation (Harry had already tried to tell Dumbledore that it would be more accurately called telekinesis.) Precise spell-work had been Albus' most recent method of teaching Harry control and the exercise, though tedious, was exceptionally effective.

"What's up Ron?" He asked calmly finishing his exercise and dropping out of the tree landing in a crouch.

"Umbrige is the devil" Ron replied slumping against the trunk of the tree Harry had lounged in moments prior.

"She's a bigoted pureblood elitist snob!" Hermione shouted angrily.

"But, Hermione she's your teacher." Harry said patronizingly, causing the bushy haired brunette to glare at him.

"Doesn't make her any less of an overweight toad" Neville grumbled.

"I'd take Crouch Jr. over her, at least his class was interesting."

"Seamus, I'm pretty sure that a soul-less husk couldn't do much better than our illustrious High Inquisitor" Harry commented idly as he listlessly transfigured twenty pigeons out of stone and shot them in the head with piercing hexes once they had flown twenty or so meters.

"You are a sick bastard" Dean said watching the spectacle.

"You're just jealous" Harry retorted transfiguring the pigeons back to stone with a flick of his wand.

"You're wicked you know that?" Ron said shaking his head in disbelief.

"Not really, my dad could do that in his third year." Harry said with a shrug. "Inanimate to animate transfiguration is the hardest part for me, the animate to inanimate transfiguration is simple by comparison."

"I meant your aim and speed, Hermione could easily do those transfigurations when she was eleven" Ron snapped causing Hermione to blush.

"I wish I could do that." Neville said wistfully.

"You can it just takes a little practice" Harry said casually.

"Easy for you to say" Dean muttered.

"You could do it if you wanted to"

"Yeah Right" Seamus grumbled angrily.

"Really, Look I'll teach you" Harry offered. "It's a great way to blow off steam." He added as he transfigured clumps of dirt and grass into archery targets and levitated them out over the field at five, ten, and fifteen-meter intervals.

"The incantation is _Perforare,_ It literally means pierce, _Forare,_ through, _Per._ It's a simple spell you point aim and fire, no elaborate wand movement, no delay. Once you can cast silently it's one of the fastest attack spells out there."

Twenty minutes later Harry's five 'students' had totally destroyed the targets. Ron was the first to get a bulls-eye on the fifteen-meter target and Harry had added a twenty-meter target a little later.

"See, told you it was easy!" Harry said clapping Neville on the shoulder.

"Why don't we do stuff like this in defense!" Dean said as he magically repaired his target.

"We would if I was teaching" Harry said rapidly casting twelve silent _reductos _in near simultaneous succession, leaving piles of ash in place of the targets.

"Why didn't anyone teach us this spell sooner?" Seamus asked as he fired a piercing hex into a nearby tree leaving a smoking hole going clean through the trunk.

"Because of that." Harry said sharply repairing the tree with a wand wave. "It's a simple spell, it can be blocked by a simple shield charm, and if you hit someone's arm or leg it can be healed with ease. BUT, if you hit the head, neck or heart of a person you'll kill them before the body hits the ground. It has the same effect as running someone through with a rapier. It's like a muggle gun it doesn't take a whole lot of skill to fire but if you know how to use it, it's as dangerous as a killing curse. That's why they don't teach us anything but jelly-leg jinxes, disarming spells, and stunners until we're older. Imagine if you had a few pissed off eleven year olds firing lethal spells at each other?"

Harry watched everyone pale slightly.

"The only reason I learned that spell was so that I would have a quick deadly attack to use in an emergency" '_That's every training session I have with Albus or Snivellus _'

"I wish you taught defense" Neville said seriously causing Seamus and Dean to nod in agreement.

"Yeah, I learned more about defense in the past half hour than I have in the past month." Seamus added.

"I doubt Dumbledore would hire me for the position" Harry said wryly

"Still Harry, why don't you take up teaching? I know you could do it. You've got me silently casting first through third year spells now." Ron added quietly. Harry made to protest when Hermione cut in.

"He's right Harry you've got more practical defense experience than anyone we know."

"Dumbledore, Snape, Flitwick, McGonagall, Sprout, and Hagrid maybe Vector-"

"You've killed a Basilisk with a sword!" Ron exclaimed.

"You cast a full bodied Patronus and banished over a hundred dementors!" Hermione added.

"Triwizard Champion" Seamus reminded.

"Faced You-Know-Who Twice" Neville piped up.

"I get it, I'm a certifiable Bad Ass with the scars to prove it." Harry snapped. "Still doesn't mean I'm qualified to teach Defense."

"You're more qualified than the Toad we got right now!" Dean yelled angrily.

"Really Harry, people would love for you to teach them." Harry threw his hands up in the air.

"Fine if you guys think I should I'll give it a shot, but you guys are doing the recruiting."

Harry looked out at his eager classmates. '_Stage 2: complete, here I was worried that this would be hard_'

An hour later Harry walked into the Great Hall and made his way over to the Ravenclaw table with Ron and Hermione in tow.

"Good evening Luna, May I sit with you?" Harry's voice was gentle and smooth, his smile spoke nothing but kindness to the girl who sat ostracized at the end of the Ravenclaw table. The blonde turned and looked at Harry dreamily.

'_The downside of being a strong legimens? You become an empath. An empath in a school of teenagers. Huh, it's no wonder Albus is crazy and Snivellus is constantly pissy._' Harry's eyes met the girl's dreamy gaze and he slipped into her surface memories with practiced ease. He kept his features calm as he witnessed the troubled girls thoughts.

'_At least they aren't tormenting her openly anymore. Teenage girls are without a doubt some of the cruelest and most complex of specimens aren't they? She's almost over her crush on Ron, that's good. Oh and Ginny's hanging out with her again that's good Ginny is positive influence…most of the time._'

"Of course Harry, You always seem to give me wrackspurts." At the sound of Luna's voice Harry stopped his scanning.

"My apologies, will you be alright?"

"Just as long as they aren't becoming a cidipuc." Luna said airily.

"Good to know" Harry said next to the girl as Ron and Hermione sat opposite of the pair. Once seated Harry looked up to the Headmaster and sent out his message.

"_They finally suggested it._" Dumbledore's response was immediate.

"_Permission to proceed, I advise using the fourth floor History of Magic classroom on Tuesdays and Thursdays sometime later in the evening._"

"_Duly noted._" Harry looked at Cho Chang who had just dropped into the seat next to him.

"Hello Harry" She said sidling up close to him.

"Hello Cho" Harry replied pouring himself some juice. "Pass the Sheppard's Pie Ron."

Harry locked eyes with Cho diving into her mind as he did.

"Would you like some Cho?"

"No thank you, Harry" She said nervously. '_Love potion? This could be very interesting._'

"So tell me Luna how have you been?"

The rest of the meal was an interesting game for Harry. He made a show of looking away from his meal and letting Cho pour love potion into his drink. He would then vanish the contents of the goblet while pretending to drink the whole concoction. He would then wait a few moments before complimenting Luna, Hermoine, Ginny, or any girl other then Cho on their appearance. After a few minutes of doing this he excused himself and left Hermione and Ron to their 'recruiting' as he liked to call it.

He walked aimlessly for a while until he reached the second floor and he turned around the corner sharply and cast a disillusionment charm on himself. After a few moments Draco Malfoy peered around the corner. Silently casting a disarming charm at the other teen's head he watched bemusedly as the blonde boy was banished into the far wall and his wand flew through the air into Harry's waiting hands. Before Draco hit the ground he was stunned and bound in chains. Harry cast a silent disillusionment charm on the fool and dragged the body to Myrtle's lavatory, opened the Chamber of Secrets with the new password he and Dumbledore had come up with. Without a second thought he threw Draco's body onto the ground and used it to bobsled down the tunnels to the subterranean Chamber of Slytherin. Once he was at the bottom he dragged Draco into the Chamber and threw him onto the wet ground near the base of Salzar's broken stature.

Pocketing his own wand he pointed Draco's at the blonde haired weasel and revived him.

"Wakey, wakey, little ferret." Draco looked up at Harry and made to speak but Harry kicked the teen in the stomach and put the heel of his foot on the other boys throat.

"Before you say anything I advise you look at where you are." Harry's voice was cold and hard.

"Do you understand? Welcome to _my _Chamber. You see that skeleton over there? I stripped of all the valuable parts but you can still see the remains of Moldewart's little pet." Harry sighed Nostalgically "It was so full of life when I first saw it…kind of like you are now." Harry applied a little pressure to Draco's throat.

"Now. You were following me. As of last April Mr. Nice Guy retired, I'm sure your father can attest to that. So I am going to give you a chance to be a good little boy before I begin my interrogation and treat you like the scum you are." With each word he spoke a few sparks came out of the wand pointed at the other boy's face. Harry lifted his foot of the other boy.

"Y-you're bluffling." Draco stuttered.

"Maybe…Maybe not." As the last word left Harry's lips he violently attacked Draco with Legilimency and ripped through the other boy's consciousness. Draco's screams echoed through the chamber until Harry stopped his assault.

"Wh-what the H-hell is that?" Draco gasped.

"Something far outside your skill level." Harry said dismissively.

"Now about your little _assassination_ attempts." Harry watched Draco freeze up.

"Oh you thought we didn't know?" Harry chuckled darkly. "Dumbledore and I have known from the start. You really are a failure. You can't play Quidditch, can't do magic, can't kill the old man, can't even be a good foot soldier for ole' snake-face. Did you really think that a vial of poison in the Headmaster's Cup and a few cursed objects left lying around would kill the man who single-handedly defeated Grindelwald, a wizard far greater than your _Master_. Did you think you could actually sneak up on me and catch me off guard? I made it clear on the Express how great the gap was between us, I know what you are thinking before it even crosses your mind. The gap between the two of us only grows wider with every passing day. I am infinitely better than you. Even if your pathetic, miserable father lived to teach you every spell he knew, and assuming you actually knew how to use them, I'd still be stronger." With one hand Harry grabbed the chain wrapped around the teen's neck and hoisted him into the air.

"This is the end of the line Draco. You can: either quit the game now, swear your undying loyalty to me and promise on your life you will never assist my enemies in any way, shape or form. Or, I'll do this." Harry dropped to the ground and held Draco's head underwater until the other struggling teen passed out. A second later, he pulled the boy out of the water and revived him.

"Get the picture?" Harry said cheerfully.

"YOU FUCKING PSYCHOPATH!" Harry smirked coldly.

"Better hurry Draco."

"You won't kill me." Draco's words came out more like a plee, than as the statement it was meant as.

"Kill you? Why would I kill you? I just need to tie you up and leave you in that pool for a quick bath. I'll walk away and that will be that." Draco complexion, if possible, became paler.

"I'll give you to the count of three to decide your fate."

Fifteen minutes later, shaken Draco was found wet and trembling outside the Slytherin common room.

A week later, at the first meeting of Harry's directed study group:

"Alright, I think we all know the reason we're here. But incase you don't know, It's to learn practical defense because we aren't gonna' learn it any way but through experience. To kick off this little party we'll have a demonstration of practical skills. Ron, Fred, George, Seamus, Dean, Hermione, Ernie, Justin, and Roger Davis take the field."

The nine students formed a circle around Harry.

"You all know the rules: anything but the killing curse is fair play, first team to have all its members defeated loses. Defeat means unconscious, incapacitated, dismembered, or if necessary dead. BEGIN"

Harry ducked, dodged, leapt and rolled to avoid the nine attacks that convened on his person.

"First…" Harry sidestepped Deans piercing hex, which hit the wall behind him. "…dodge whenever possible." Harry jumped to avoid a blindness curse from Roger.

"EXPELLIARMUS" Harry deflected Justin's disarmer with a duelist's shield while in mid jump and returned fire with a silent stunner, before rolling to avoid a dual curses from the twins.

"Second, cast _Silently_" Harry said as his stunner hit Justin, and had to duck a cutting charm from Ernie and an _Impediemente_ from Seamus.

Hermione conjured a swarm of sparrows and commanded them to attack Harry.

"Third…" Harry rolled to avoid Ron's _Reducto_. "Use your surroundings!" Harry transfigured the Sparrows into swords and charmed them to spin around him in a mobile metal shield, blocking any spell that approached him. Harry looked at his opponents disbelief stricken faces for a second before banishing the swords at Seamus and Ernie(who threw themselves out of the way), casting a stunner at Hermione, while sprinting up to Roger and decking the older boy with a left hook. He then sidestepped a stunner from Ron. Unfortunately, Roger was struck with the spell and toppled over unconscious. Not waiting a second Harry sprinted across the room stunning Ernie and Seamus as he passed them. Fred and George fired dual _reducto_'s at Harry and he used a magic enhanced jump to leap over both spells and landed with both his feet impacting with George's chest, knocking the red head onto his back and causing him to drop his wand. Harry grabbed Fred's arm and spun him around to block Ron's incoming stunner with the older boy's body while hurling the stunned Fred into George with a fluid motion knocking the other disarmed twin back to the ground. Without pause Harry stunned George before the twins hit the floor, and wandlessly banished Ron into a wall causing the final redhead to drop to the floor with his wind knocked out of him. Ron's wand fell from his hand and Harry's stunner dropped the last of the nine opponents.

"That's game." Harry said looking at his speechless audience. "Now today's lesson…"

Harry walked into Dumbledore's office under the Cloak of Invisibility. Dumbledore was wearing a loose fitting hooded robe over his full body dragon-hide armor, every inch of it covered in runic schemes, countless magically charged diamonds were imbedded along the seems.

"With **that** for defense and the Wand of Destiny for offense, why do you even need a magical core?" Harry's question was sent telepathically to his master.

"We need every advantage, this time I take no chances. I doubt Malvolio will be using stunners."

"And that getup can block an AK or two, no?"

"It can block one, however it will not block two if they are in quick succession. The suit operates like it's alive. It is **Regenerative** dragon skin on nigh-indestructible steel, the skin re-grows with the rune schemes intact using the magic charged in the diamonds."

"I sense a drawback."

"Sadly even with featherweight charms on the steel the weight of the dragon-hide is well over thirty kilograms."

"And since it's magic resistant you can't lighten it. I wouldn't switch speed for defense if I were you."

"Sadly I don't have my youth anymore so I'd rather stick to a nigh-impenetrable defense."

Harry shrugged as Albus threw a bag at Harry.

"Get changed."

Harry reached into the bag and pulled out a Dark grey turtleneck.

"No Gryffindor colors?" Harry joked.

"It's Acromantula fur weaved with thestral hair sewn into warded sphinx leather."

"I don't get a dragon-hide covered suit of armor?"

"Get changed now or I'm going alone and you can sit in the dungeons with Severus preparing for when my ghost returns to haunt you."

Harry began rapidly changing clothes.

Albus added as he strapped on a pair of gauntlets and bracers and tapped his wand on the separate pieces of armor causing it to knit into the rest of his suit of armor.

Harry stood up after changing and donned a black overcoat.

"You ready to go?" He asked.

Albus turned to face Harry and the ebony haired youth felt himself shiver at the cold blue eyes that lay in his masters face. He was no longer the gentle eccentric Headmaster of Hogwarts. These were the eyes of the Warlock who ripped away all of Gellert Grindelwald's power the mastermind who monitored the magical world with only the magic of a squib at his disposal. The man whose will was so unbreakable that a phoenix's free spirit bowed to his resolve.

'_Stupid question_'

"On your signal, Master" Dumbledore covered himself with the Cloak of Invisibility and Harry nodded towards the empty air as Fawkes Flew down causing the trio to vanish in a blast of fire.

Salutations, This is the first author's note of the Phantom Fool.

First of all I want to offer my sincere thanks to the reviewers.

I have had this story in my head for ages, and I feel I should write it down so that you can read it and it can bug you all (however many of you there are).

Reviews help a great deal, they remind me that somebody out there will be thoroughly annoyed if I stop writing the story because I don't like want to type anymore.

Reviews tell me I should write faster so that people don't have to wait six months for updates(something that I find a tad irritating.)

Next order of business, Pairings: they can and do brutally murder good stories, I have consequently decided not to try writing them. If there is a pairing it will be either: **a** humorous or **b** relevant.

This story already has: a small war in the UK. Joe Schmoe coming home from a ten hour shift at the office to find a bunch of robed psychos torturing his next door neighbors with magic. One questionably sane, potentially homosexual warlock with a massive power handicap. A teenage apprentice to the aforementioned Warlock, whose primary concern is surviving until his twentieth birthday. A person with serious psychological issues who chopped up his soul at the age of seventeen and for the past half-century has been enlisting old money to fuel the genocide of Joe Schmoes everyone. A government that is one screw-up away from being sent oblivion. Five dangerous sorcerers who are a hop, skip and a jump away from starting a war on three to four continents. Plus one or two things I have yet to write into the story.

I want to try and keep this story under one hundred thousand words and finish it before the year ends (not likely but I can dream). There is plenty of plot already without me throwing in the possibility of four or five pairings that take up hours of writing and succeed in irritating countless readers(myself included).

Finally this story's updates will become a tad more infrequent following the next update so I apologize in advance.


	10. The Point of No Return

{Chapter 10: Point of No Return}

In a flash of light Harry burst into existence on the bluffs which lay two kilometers south of the ruins that comprised the Citidal of Malvolio, Hereditary Count of Orsino, and Arch-mage of the Mediterranean. Harry pulled his hood up and looked out over the flat stretch of open ground between him and the forest that made up the obstacle of the castles defences.

'_Let's go_'

The teen broke into a sprint towards the fortress, not slowing until he reached the woods.

'_This place is worse than the forbidden forest._' Harry thought sidling past a gnarled tree that appeared to be made of petrified vines. Without warning the earthy loam surrounding him exploded skyward as legions of Acromantula's _leapt _towards the cloaked teen. "Sierra de Fuego!" Harry's wand released long sheets of serrated liquid fire with each sweep of his arm. The forest illuminated red as blades of flame tore through chitinous armor and viscous membranes. The heat of the magical flaming saw blades was boiling the arachnids vital fluids on contact and saturating the forest with the stench of burning bodies and smoke. Despite his deadly spell work, the overly crowded forest and growing clouds of smoke favored the agile monsters. After imploding the small brains of the third eight-legged freak to bite into, but not through, his clothing Harry opted for a change of plan.

"_Glacia tegera_" Holding the wand to his throat Harry exhaled and the forest began to drop in temperature Five Acromantula's bit into his clothing trying to inject their lethal venom before the forest grew still. The smoke cleared and frost coated the entire area. All the spiders were immobile their bodies incapable of functioning in the frigid temperatures.

"Well that was a waste" Harry muttered crushing a totally frozen spider skull with his hand vindictively.

"Half the Woods knows I'm here by now." Harry's absently continued as he carefully removed the Acromantula fangs stuck in his clothes.

'_Well I don't have time to sit here do I?_'

And with that he turned back to his task at hand, walking through a dark cold forest full of potentially lethal monsters.

He made it approximately fifty meters when he heard it. The sound of howling, lots of howling.

'_No bleedin' way It's a freakin waning crescent, there is no way there is a pack of-_'

He heard growling and turned locking his eyes with two burning yellow eyes.

"Just…fucking die for me" Harry hissed pointing his wand at the beast's cranium as he unsheathed the enchanted silver dagger he had…_borrowed_ from the House of Black. The Werewolf twitched and made to leap at the young wizard only to have it's head blown off by a _Reducto_.

"Yep, This is how I wanted to spend my Saturday night" He grumbled continuing his trek through the forest.

'_Sure Master, I'll cut a path to the castle for you, anything I need to look out for? How about a pack of fucking werewolves, that run around in the middle of the lunar cycle. What else is in here a bloody chimera?_'

Harry tightened the grip on his dagger and continued at the same even measured pace.

'_Damn things have me surrounded, how many are there ten? Twenty?_'

The wolves soft footfalls crunched through the frost covered loam giving away their positions with each of their steps.

'_Can I kill twenty? Maybe, if I wasn't __**Trying **__to be stealthy._'

One of the wolves stepped out in front of Harry.

'_So this is a true werewolf? It's bigger than Hagrid. And I've got to fight this thing?_'

The beast was on all fours and it easily stood at three meters. Harry kept his face blank as he locked eyes with the behemoth.

Then it stood on it hind legs and howled.

'_New plan. Shoot first, worry about consequences later._'

Raising his wand skyward in a blink he roared out:

"TEGERO MI DEFENSUM!"

A light blue dome formed around him.

"CONFLAGRARE!"

The blast rippling out away from the tip of his wand in waves. The Forest shook as trees exploded and the earth split open into jagged fissures. Static clung to the air and the ground rumbled as the forest glowed an electric blue for a brief moment before the entirety of the surroundings erupted in a massive explosion of earth, fire, and pulsing shock waves. The all-consuming inferno dispersed outward tearing open the surroundings leaving nothing but a burning crater, a cloud of ash, and a panting Harry Potter.

'_Good God, That hurt._'

Harry opened his eyes and looked around at the destroyed area.

'_Harry: 20, Wolves: 0, I gotta move before someone shows up._'

Sheathing the Silver dagger and switching the wand between hands he quickly healed his bleeding ears, and fixed the circulation to his right arm before returning the wand to his dominant hand.

'_Let's get a move on Potter can't keep Albus wait-_' Harry froze mid-thought as his newly healed ears picked up the sound of growling, low deep growling.

Harry turned towards the growling desperately wishing it was just a flaw in his recently healed ears.

"Bullocks"

Unfortunately it wasn't. Standing less than a meter behind him was the same monstrous Wolfman he just spent everything trying to kill, with nothing but superficial injuries. Burned hair, cuts, a few bruises and a nasty looking pair of gashes that seemed to be stitching closed before his eyes.

'_damn it…DAMN IT!_' Harry lashed out with a Sectumsempra, flowing into a Bombardo, Perforare, Confringo combo. The behemoth gracefully sidestepped the first curse leapt over the second, allowing the third to pierce through its shoulder while dashing sideways to evade the last blast before turning on a dime and rushing towards the teenage wizard faster than his eye's could see.

'_Why…_'

Harry felt the beast's clawed paw hit his side, breaking a rib and hurling him almost twenty meters across the ground.

'…_I'm always outclassed…_"

Harry conjured a magical barrier which the Wolfman easily shattered with a headbut that slammed into Harry and caused him to roll across the ground.

'…_it's always a Basilisk or Dementors or Tom FUCKING RIDDLE!_'

Growling angrily Harry slammed his hand onto the ground using the posted arm to throw himself to a standing position.

"Erde, ger!"

Earth twisted and exploded out to the ground in the form a long spiked pillar, impaling the werewolf.

The beast growled angrily before gripping the pillar with its claws, snapping the spike and freeing itself.

'_DAMN IT ALL!_'

"Sierra de Fuego!" Arcs of serrated fire erupted as Harry's wand sliced through the air cutting the monster as it descended to the earth. The moment it's clawed feet touched the ground the beast rocketed towards it's opponent seemingly unaware of the deep burning wounds which marred it's monstrous form.

Moving at the last moment He barely avoided the Behemoths maw instead being rammed in the waist by the monster's full body tackle. Pain exploded through his body as he felt the beasts girth crush his pelvis and lower back, eyes blinded in tears he became vaguely aware of being slammed bodily into a fallen tree causing him to snap another rib. For a second his vision cleared and he saw the monster coming down on top of him with it's maw open ready to swallow the crippled young man. On reflex alone Harry brought up his arm to guard and rolled to the right.

The Beast's gaping maw clamped down on the arm like a vice; the cloak, coat and shirt barely blocked the razor sharp teeth from totally removing the crushed arm. The beast annoyed with it's resilient prey put it's massive paw on Harry's leg pinning the youth in place before jerking it's head away from the defenseless boy. Harry didn't think he just screamed in pain, anger, and blinding agony as he felt his left arm become very thinly shredded beef on the bone.

With a look of hatred that couldn't begin to show the ocean of wrath he held, Harry wandlessly levitated his dagger out of it's sheath and shoved into the beast's forehead.

The beast roared releasing Harry in the process. Said teen rolled and pointed his wand at the monster.

"Poniard, Torquere"

The dagger twisted four-hundred and fifty degrees before thrusting itself deeper into the monster's skull.

"Decapitare via Argentum, lycanthropus!"

With a slashing wand motion and a flash of silver light the beasts head rolled off and the body collapsed motionless.

Dropping his wand He reached into the pocket on the side of his right leg and pulled out small glowing crystal vial. Pulling the object to his mouth Harry pulled off the top with his lips and poured the object's contents into his mouth.

As he felt his body go numb he sighed. Turning his head to watch as the stringy remains of his bicep and the jaggedly broken stump left arm's humerus began to grow back into a full arm.

'_Albus you're a god amongst men._'

Who would have thought, the greatest icon of the Light magic's greatest achievement was not his discoveries about dragon's blood, his Homenum Revelio, his research on the Deathly Hollows, or even his defeat of Grindelwald but rather his ability to distil and purify unicorn blood.

In his search to recover his magical core Albus performed many illegal experiments. One of the tamer of his experiments brought about the process for purification of Unicorn blood.

After exsanguinating a grown unicorn, Albus succeeded in developing an alchemic process that could produce the panacea capable healing all the physical injuries and ailments of a person almost instantaneously. Sadly to create one single dose of his masterpiece required murdering a unicorn via exsanguination and then reducing its heart to a powder.

Since killing a unicorn was an automatic life sentence to Azkaban, Harry and Nicholas Flamel were the only people to ever learn of Albus' secret.

Over the course of Harry's Apprenticeship he and Dumbledore had managed to hunt down twenty unicorns and succeeded in the creation of fifteen doses of Albus' cure all potion. The potion was truly incredible, capable of allowing Albus to sew a severed limb onto a fresh corpse and revive a victim from death with no ill effects up to fifteen minutes after the heart stopped beating. It was one of the reasons why Albus used lethal force in his duels with Harry, because if necessary he could easily fix almost any injury up to an hour after it occurred.

Pulling himself to his feet the teen summoned his wand to his hand and retrieved his dagger from the beast's skull before turning towards his destination.

'_Almost there Harry, Albus is waiting_'

Abandoning all pretense of stealth Harry began jogging through the woods, leaping over fallen trees, sliding through mulched loam, and cutting down anything that so much as moved. Finally, after ten minutes of free-running He found himself within the toppled abandoned ruins of Mercia Crux.

The ancient citadel had seen better days, the sandstone battlements were collapsed and covered in scorch marks. The granite floors was covered in dirt and limestone walls of the inner rooms looked like they'd been soaked in acid. Thus harry found himself drawn to the single most ornate pair of double doors he had ever seen. The stood just past the collapsed front wall of the castle Glorious and immaculate in a sea of filth and ruin. But it wasn't the polished doors' beauty that made him falter it was the small detail that it wasn't attached to anything. It just stood there, a freestanding doorway in the middle of a empty burned out entrance hall. Walking up to the doors he looked at them appraisingly.

'_Now what do I do? open it, blow it up, or-_'

His thought's were abruptly interrupted as the doors swung inward revealing a large circular moonlit hall carved into immaculate Carrara marble.

'_Do they really think I'm gonna just walk into their trap? How stupid-_'

At that moment Harry felt a hand push him towards the door.

'_So we both made it in one piece. Time for some fun then._' With a fluid motion he whipped of his tattered coat and threw it through the doorway and dive rolled under it a second later. This caused the coat to receive to suffer being reduced by by the crimson curse that flew through the air the moment the coat passed across the door. Rolling into a low crouch Harry fired a wide area reducto at where the curse came from as he scanned the room for the person who fired it. He ducked to avoid the jet of flame that flew through the air at him from the left and was met with a banisher that sent him flying across the room. When he was barely a meter from the wall he cast a cushioning charm and upon impact with the fluffy obstacle he threw himself to the left and looked at his opponent. The man standing at the base of the spiral stairs that wrapped around the hall's walls for what looked like hundreds of feet, was not what he'd expected, brown eyes long dark brown hair that curled in an unruly way, tanned skin, sharp features, about 190cm's tall and broad shoulders that were accentuated by the white robe he wore tightly tailored to his waist and chest. It was cut in a way that reminded Harry of a tuxedo jacket with very long coattails. With the man's white slacks and perfectly shinned black leather shoes he could have almost passed for a muggle, had the black rod he was holding in his left hand not been radiating an eerie gold light.

"Do you usually slash and burn all your guests coats?" Harry said with a big grin.

"Flagelleta toxicum." The man's deep quiet voice echoed through the dark hall and as the words left the man's mouth Harry watched as a long rope of green flames formed in the man's right hand.

"Going straight into the parlor tricks? You wouldn't kill me without proper introductions would you?" The man twitched his hand and the rope of green fire whipped out with a crack making Harry dodge the stream of green death. Upon impact with the wall the flames exploded out in a cloud of black smoke, which left a massive scorch mark on any thing it touched. Watching in shock Harry barely summoned a full body shield just as the whip of flame flew through the air in an arc cutting the marble wall like butter. The shield mad a huge crash when the flames reached it. Black smoke crackled like lightning on impact with the magic barrier and the green rope of fire made a sound akin to a buzz saw slicing through copper piping. Just as the shield broke he through himself to the ground, causing the whip to fly through the air without interruption.

'_What the hell! That was my best shield! He's not even moving yet and I'm on the defensive!_'

At the last second he leapt into the air to avoid the rope/whip/blade _thing_ that was cutting through his defenses with ease.

'_A ranged fight is suicide, I've got to get in close where he can't use sweeping attacks._'

The second his feet touched the ground he sprinted towards the other man casting as many piercing hexes and minor spells as he could. Around three meters from the man he had to leap over that blasted whip of death, as he did so he used magic to increase the height of his jump so that he was above the white-garbed man.

'_Cauerizare_'

Harry sliced his wand down in a slashing movement so strong that it sent him into a spin. He watched with mild satisfaction that the man had to raise his rod and conjure a visible shield to block the crescent blade of yellow fire. Harry then realized that was because the man had been using his other hand to send the 'whip of death' as Harry dubbed it to intercept him mid jump.

'_Carpe Retractum_' It wasn't really cast silently, Harry all but yelled it in his mind as he pointed his wand towards one of the ledge's above him in a last ditch attempt at self-preservation. The wire of orange magic latched onto the ledge and jerked him skyward. Grabbing onto the stone ledge with his left hand he turned his body sideways and fired a _confringo_ at his adversary. As he watched the man sidestep the lethal spell he noticed that the green whip was a mass of flames reforming in the man's hand. As he cast a Blood-boiling curse he read the man's lips.

"Toxon"

The flames morphed into bow into a bow in the man's hand. Harry watched in horror as an arrow formed in the bow spontaneously. And let go of the ledge just as the shaft was released. He didn't see the impact but the flash of green that illuminated the room, the thunder-like crash that rent the air when the bolt struck where he'd been moments prior gave him an idea of the danger the arrow posed, especially when the second and third hit the wall above and below him sending out a geysers of black smoke from the holes that formed in the wall. To avoid touching the smoke he kicked of the wall and felt himself fall into an uncontrolled tumble through the air. He impacted with the ground hard, the hastily cast cushioning charm of a disoriented wizard may have prevent from death but it still felt like he'd broken shattered the humerus and elbow of his right arm. Ignoring the pain he rolled out of the way of another bolt of flame that impacted near where his head had been moments before. In the roll he switched his wand to his left hand and cast a charm to snap his bones into place with loud sickening crunch. Throwing himself to a standing position he sidestepped another arrow of death. Trained his wand on his opponent both combatants froze for a moment.

'_This is bad. I'm exhausting myself trying to stay alive and he hasn't moved an inch! He blocks everything I throw at him with a hand wave and he's only used one spell since we started! oh…no._'

He watched in horror as a faint shimmering of light around the rod in the man's hand disappeared and a ring of fiery symbols formed in the the air between them.

'_He wasn't holding back he was just waiting for his spell to finish! He's been preparing a summons since I arrived._'

With a sound akin to speaker feedback and knives cutting slate the air in the circle of runes split apart to reveal a dark smoky portal that continued expanding until the portal was almost twelve meters in diameter. Then, the smoke poured out into the room. Horror kept Harry locked in place as the smoke morphed into a burning skeletal construct. Smoke and bone molded into a monstrous beast. Harry's shock turned to rage and he growled as every muscle in his body flexed.

"You have got to be... oh god DAMN IT!"

Standing between Harry and his opponent was a massive five headed beast, each neck was twenty meters long and held gigantic skulls that vaguely resembled some monstrosity that lived in the Jurassic era, massive sets of needlelike fangs, gaping maws dripping with acid (if the hissing the saliva made upon touching the floor was any indicator,) and masses of thin boney horns that stuck out like a mane at the junction of the neck and the head. The majority of the _thing_'_s_ body looked like the bastard love child of a Chinese fireball and an abnormally large centipede, the one exception on the beast's thirty-meter torso was the massive dual scorpion stingers that protruded from the end of the beast's abdomen.

"_Eviscero! Torques Capillaris! Sectumsempra!…_" The spells flew from Harry's wand even as the beast finished forming. Unfortunately each spell dissipated without leaving a scratch on the monster.

"Perforare TEMPESTA!" Harry screamed the incantation as thousands of near invisible magical fléchettes shot from his wand in a spray of piecing shrapnel. Harry watched with vindictive glee as the spell left thousands of bleeding holes in the monster's tremendous body.

"_MINUO ADFICIO!_" Blood sprayed out of the beast's wounds as it shrieked in agony. Harry was so absorbed in the monster he almost missed now familiar sound of an arrow bursting into existence on his left. He barely leapt out of the way before the burning light impacted with the ground where he'd been standing with a crash vaporizing the stone floor. Following the arrow's trajectory he looked up at the spiral stairs the lined the walls and saw his opponent standing there with the flaming green bow in his right hand and the glowing black rod in his left.

"_Bow my gorgeous arse! That thing's a bloody rifle!_" Harry dodged one of the monster's scorpion tails as it stabbed through the stone floor. The monster let out a roar as one of it's heads lunged at the irate teen. Rather than dodge the monster's gaping maw he flicked his wand so that it pointed into the dripping maw of the beast.

'_Confingo!_'

The beasts neck snapped backwards as the monsters head exploded outward. Charred flesh and shattered fangs flew outwards as the other heads roared furiously. Without waiting for the monster's retaliation Harry broke into a sprint so that he was directly under the monsters necks.

'_He can't risk his summon with those arrows of his. If I stay close then I only have one opponent, Granted it's still a monster, but it's more predictable then a wizard._'

"_Discerpo_" Harry's spell sliced the underbelly of the monstrosity and severed off three of its left legs with the arcing spells blade. The creature screamed in fury and tried to flatten him with its girth only for the boy to dive roll out from underneath the monster and point his wand at the trunk of one of it's tails.

"DISCERPO!" pushing as much force as he could into the spell he watched with satisfaction as his spell almost severed the extremity. The beast scuttled so that it's heads could see their enemy, catching sight of him just as he used magic to leap onto the back of the beast and slammed the silver spewing dagger in between the beasts exoskeletal armor, something the beast saw but didn't feel. Without sparing a glance at the vicious monster's heads he flicked his wand at the skull-like appendages.

"_Scheinen!_" The light exploded, blinding the monster's remaining four heads causing the panicked creature to thrash its whole body in fury. Holding onto the dagger to avoid falling off the squirming monster, he pointed his wand at the monster's damaged tail.

'_Carpe…_' three ropes of orange energy flew from the wand and latched onto the monstrous appendage.

'_Retractum_!' with a downward jerk of his arm the massive tail wrenched downward with a snap, impaling the creature where Harry was clinging. Screams rent the air so loudly that Harry could feel his ribs vibrating from the sheer volume. Despite the monster's screams Harry didn't lose a second to idleness. Leaping off the monster to the creatures right he threw a bone-breaker curse at the one of the monster's four necks and was rewarded with a satisfying crack. Rolling on impact with the ground he bolted towards the monsters open flank.

"SIERRA DE FUEGO!" Flames erupted from his wand tip as he whirled under the monster and sent wave upon wave of cutting flames through the screaming beasts body. Legs and chunks of burning exoskeleton fell away from the monster's long abdomen.

'_Why won't this thing die? I've stabbed it with a cursed knife that turns bodily fluids to mercury, impaled it with it's own tail and I'm taking every single chance I get to gut it lake a cheap fish!_'

One of the flaming saw-blades ripped open a massive opening in the beast's right flank. Gripping his wand with both hands he shoved the wand tip into the fissure.

"ERUPTIO!" With a roaring crash the side of the creature exploded in a blinding flash. Harry was smacked into a far wall by the bifurcated monster's lower half as it thrashed and curled in its final spasm. Upon impact Harry felt his body explode in blinding pain.

'_MOVE!_'

The thought was so ingrained from being punished by Albus that his mind knew what to do even as he felt his body screamed in protest. Luckily his mind prevailed and he threw himself out of the way as one of his enemy's arrows blew reduced a segment of wall to a glowing puddle of molten rock and superheated acid. The roars of the monster drew his attention again causing him to look at the remains of the monster he'd just blown in two. The beast's front half had recovered from it's recent wound and appeared to be unfazed by the loss of over half it's body mass.

The monster's three remaining heads roared before the left most neck extended over twice the monster's body length in an attempt to consume the man who'd injured it.

In a split moment Harry managed to duck to the ground and transmuted the floor into a stone palisade that stabbed into the beast's neck and all but decapitated it. Leaping over the spikes in a flash he pointed his wand at the beasts back and used _Carpe Retractum_ to whip himself onto the monster.

'_Perforare Tempesta_.'

Wand pointed at the beast's neck thousands of shards flew through the air tearing flesh and ripping through the monster's exoskeleton. Leaping off the dying beast and landing in a ready stance he looked up at his opponent and met the cold empty eyes of the man staring down at him.

Then Harry noticed it, silver symbols floating in the air between him and his enemy.

'_Summoning Circle? No, to unordered. To flexible to be a ward, no supports so it's not a barrier, cascade multiplier perhaps? No it's more than that!_'

The white garbed man pointed his bow at the nearest symbol and the burning green weapon dissipated into a mist which wrapped around the construct before spreading to every one of the thousands of seals floating throughout the massive chamber. As each of the magical marks glowed a sickly green and condensed into a small flaming orb Harry realized exactly how big the chamber was. There wasn't a ceiling, the sky was visible and in the burning green glow of the thousands of floating orbs Harry could see the outward spiraling tower they were in went upward for at least another hundred meters with each circle of the spiral steps the diameter of the room increased by five meters. He would have been awestruck had he not been absolutely absorbed in the small detail that his opponent was currently constructing the most complex spell multiplication he'd ever seen, and he had Albus Dumbledore as a teacher.

"This is a little extreme don't you think?" Harry shouted up at the wizard who was looking blankly back at him with empty eyes.

"Come on, no lecture on your superiority. You don't even know my name yet. How can you kill me without stopping to tell me how hopeless my situation is? What kind off finish is that?"

The white garbed man just stared blankly back. Harry heard it before anything else, the whistling of something flying through the air. Throwing himself sideways he barely evaded the explosion of a green fire and black smoke that erupted from the floor.

Whirling away from the spot on his toes he sent out a _Carpe Retractum _and latched onto one of the upper floors, launching himself upwards. Twenty meters up he canceled the spell to avoid being reduced to a puddle of goo by one of the explosive orbs that moved to intercept him. Landing on the stairs in a crouch he had to through up a shield to block the barrage of exploding orbs at him. After exploding the black smoke would hang over the area and eat away at everything the shield, the stairs, and the wall that he was forced against.

With bang the shield shattered and Harry used magic to leap up into the air and grab the upper stair level, even as the residual black smoke burned through his shirt and pants eating into his skin and exposing delicate nerve endings to the acidic burn. Scrambling onto the stairs to escape being reduced to a puddle he vanished the acidic smoke and cast a quick healing charm as he bolted up the spiraling stairwell ducking under a several of the projectile his foe sent at him in the process. In his haste he almost ran into the barrier of orbs that formed in his path.

'_Guess it all comes down to this._' Without breaking stride he leapt off the stair well twisting as he did to lock his gaze with the empty eyes of his aggressor.

An insane smile split across Harry's face before he vanished in a thunderous crack and apparated a meter away from his opponent with one less arm and two bleeding stubs for legs.

"CRUCIO!" The man's eyebrows rose in shock as the crimson light flew from the maimed boy's wand tip into his chest shattering through instinctive shield and sending unspeakable pain through his body.

'_Game set_' Harry thought as he felt darkness overtaking him. The last thing he saw was one of Albus Dumbledore's signature lightning bolts crashing into the white garbed man's unprotected back.


	11. Aftermath

{Chapter 11: Aftermath}

'_Good God, what happened?_' Harry Potter was used to many things, floating around in complete darkness was not one of them.

'_Dueled Malvolio, got the crap kicked out of me, deliberately apparated through potentially lethal wards to get in a lucky shot…and I blacked out. DAMN! If we lost Albus will never let this go._'

"Very true." Albus' clear telepathic voice ripped through the silence.

"Albus?" Harry's mind sent out a wave of magic through the dark looking for his mentor.

"Stop. Don't strain yourself. You're on the border still. Just hang on for a few more minutes." Despite not being able to see his master's face he could all but feel the elder man's anxiety behind the calm façade.

"You gave me quite a scare." Harry latched onto the message and replied.

"Well, since you're healing me is it safe to assume we won."

"Indeed. You're little stunt almost doomed us all though. You really should thank Riddle right now."

"His little blood ritual's got me bound to earth?"

"That is my theory."

"So why can't I wake up?"

"When Malvolio lost consciousness, his spells went into a cascading explosion. Your body suffered extended exposure to the corrosive agents and was all but destroyed."

"So why can't you just give me a vial of your patented unicorn extract?"

"You don't have a digestive system at the moment, your throat is gone, and I will not risk diluting your blood with an intravenous transfusion."

"How the hell is my heart beating?"

"It isn't. Your body is in stasis at the moment and I am trying to repair your major injuries so that your magic will send you into a healing trance."

"What took you so long? I was getting slaughtered."

"I was trying to remove his army, that's why I sent you through the wood as a diversion. I left a magical prompt at the portal to let you know it was safe to enter and then I went in through a different entrance. They didn't even notice my entry into the citadel."

"So did you have any trouble?"

"Yes I did, Malvolio has an interesting apprentice."

"He give you much trouble?"

"Yes, She was undoubtedly my most difficult opponent since I dueled Tom in 1980."

"Thanks, I feel really loved now."

"Harry, you are hardly a dangerous opponent.

"That is why you had me fight Malvolio. He wouldn't see me as a threat and he would try and take me alive."

"That, your notoriously good survival rate, your improved unpredictability, and your ability to perform well under pressure were all factors."

"I suppose I should take that as a compliment?" There was silence over the link and Harry began to worry.

"Albus?"

"Harry don't try to fight this."

"Fight what? Albus what are you-" Pain ripped through his limited senses. Suppressing his urge to fight the burning force that pushed in on him from all sides causing waves of pain to slam into every fiber of his being, had Harry's mind not been shutting down from the overwhelming onslaught of sensation he would have likened the pain to being covered in lava at the bottom of the Mariana's Trench while having your blood boiled by a continuous current of electricity.

Unimaginable pain, inescapable pressure and continuous exposure, and then it ended.

Moonlight filled his vision, the feeling of cold stone, the smell the smell of burned flesh and acidic residue, the sound of heavy panting, and the taste of blood and saliva flooded his senses in the absence of the indescribable pain.

Harry snapped into a sitting position and whirled around surveying the room. Malvolio was bound in a massive stone construct. The white carrara marble that lined the room was repairing itself. The carcass of the monster he'd fought was lying in pieces in at the bottom of the massive chamber. The Cloak of Invisibility and Albus' armor sat discarded. Fawkes was lying on the ground beside him feathers dull shades of orange and grey. Albus was kneeling opposite of Fawkes wheezing in tired shuttering breathes, eyes lined with tears, blood drippled out from the side of his mouth and from his nostrils, his face looked drawn and gray, his beard was thinner and a pile of ash lay beneath a bloody stump of a shoulder.

"God Dammit Albus! What the bloody hell happened?" Harry reached for his wand only to realize it was gone. This brought about the realization that instead of his holster, pants, shirt, or even underwear he was now garbed in loosely linked rags that were comprised of charred cloth and ash that fell away from his body every time he moved, revealing more and more of his pristine unmarred skin.

'_The hell_?' A quick once over and he realized that his body was flawless. After grabbing his forehead with frantic fingers he realized not a single scar was on him, every mark was gone!

'_What is going on?_'

The sound of his mentor collapsing and the Elder Wand rattling against stone brought him out of his reverie.

"Bugger it all Albus!" Harry muttered summoning the wand to his hand and casting a diagnostic on his mentor.

'_Residual exhaustion, severe atrophy of magic pathways, the left arm is missing, his fifth rib on the left is missing, cauterized necrotic flesh on right calf, depleted blood supply, exploded right kidney, punctured left lung. Dammit all Albus!_'

As the results of his diagnostic poured in Harry went through the older man's pockets looking for a vial of Albus' cure-all. Finding it in the older man's hidden left hip pocket he wasted no time pouring the fluid down the elder man's throat.

Harry watched in amazement as the elixer worked it's magic before a shriek from Fawkes drew his attention. He turned just as the bird burst into flame and fell apart in incensed ashes.

"Fawkes!" running his fingers franticly through the smoldering ashes he was rewarded with a weak chirp from a small chick that lay in the nest of ashes.

With a flick of the elder wand he conjured a silk blanket with another flick he transferred the bird and ash into the blanket before wrapping the mass into a loose sling which hung loosely across his chest.

Turning back to his still healing master he held the bundle of bird and ash like it was his firstborn child.

'_Why isn't his arm healing?_'

After casting another diagnostic Harry frowned. Both the rib and the arm weren't healing. After trying several healing spells Harry realized the injuries were permanent.

To say permanent injuries were uncommon would be an understatement. Amongst wizards of Albus and Riddle's caliber it was a freak occurrence. There were curses that possessed no counter, but most could be overpowered by sheer force of will. The only wounds that were truly incurable were those that were caused by sacrificial acts.

The elixer finished its magic and Harry ran over the man with a fine toothcomb. Sure enough the only injuries still present on the man's body were the missing limb and rib.

"Albus you've got to wake up now." The aged warlocks blue eyes fluttered open and master and apprentice looked eyes.

"Welcome back to the land of the living Harry." Albus murmered causing Harry to smile.

"That's my line you Old Coot" Albus chuckled and grabbed Harry's wrist in a vice-like grip.

"You've got my wand, Harry"

"Bollocks"

A crunch rent the air as Harry's wrist snapped and the elder wand dropped from the teen's hand. Harry grunted in pain as he was banished into the wall of stone that the platform they sat on was attached to. Luckily, he had the presence of mind to shield Fawkes makeshift nest from impact with his body.

Taking a deep breath to get some air back in his lungs he looked up at his mentor who was now sitting up and using the Elder Wand to clean off blood soaked robes and conjure a prosthetic limb.

"I don't suppose you'll fix my wrist?" Harry ventured as he pulled himself to his bare-feet.

"That won't be necessary" Albus replied not looking up from his craftsmanship.

Harry was about to protest before he realized that indeed his wrist was already healing itself rapidly.

"That's new." Harry said absently as he looked over the now healed limb.

"It is one of the side effects." Dumbledore said as he attached the completed prosthetic to the stub of his arm.

Harry looked at his mentor trying to catch the man's eyes.

"Side effect_**s,**_ as in plural? Anything I need to worry about?" Albus turned away from his apprentice and looked over at Malvolio's bound form.

"No, nothing that can't wait. You should go retrieve a new wand, I left a score of guards incapacitated about seven floors up go fetch one of theirs."

Harry was about to protest being ushered away before he realized it wouldn't be a good idea to argue with a man who was just getting over the permanent loss of an arm.

"Yes Sir, I'll be back in a moment." As Harry strode up the stone stairs he thought back over the night. It had been very sobering. After being the strongest at Hogwarts, and at Grimmauld Place it was irritating to remember exactly how strong he was.

Just because he could beat a bunch of has-beens and schoolchildren didn't make him an elite Sorcerer. Against Malvolio he'd been completely outclassed. Admittedly he got in his lucky shot but had Malvolio seen him as a threat he didn't doubt for one moment that his opponent would have crushed him in under a minute.

'_Damn it all! Why am I so weak?_'

Of course he'd only been working with Albus since April but he had the ridiculous advantage of two time turners. How was he not stronger?

The three factors in determining someone's level: Experience(or practical skill), power, and knowledge. Albus warned him that he would be able to just leap up to Riddle's level in a few months, maybe not even for a few years. Even if he dueled Albus and studied twelve hours daily he would still be years below Riddle in all three categories. And Riddle wasn't even the strongest!

As Harry turned down a tunnel away from the circular chamber he looked at the destruction around him.

Golems were in pieces everywhere, a few dozen werewolves were plastered on the walls, massive stone spears impaled stunned and electrocuted wizards and witches against the walls, long scorched trenches were gouged the floor and walls, and frozen ice covered bodies stood in battle ready positions perfectly preserved. Ignoring the majority of the destruction Harry began looking over the wizards for an undestroyed wand before pulling one away from a frozen man's clenched fist (accidentally snapping the man's fingers off in the process.)

Turning around, Harry began jogging down the staircase to where his master waited.

It wouldn't due to leave the old sorcerer alone. He wasn't sure how Albus had managed to resurrect him, but whatever it was had done a number on both the Old Man and on the phoenix resting against his chest.

He reached Albus just as his master gave a released Malvolio a hand up.

"I take it this means we're allies now?" Harry inquired as he reached the two men.

"For better or worse." Malvolio's deep voice replied smoothly. "So you're the new apprentice? I suppose I'll get the chance to repay you for your Crucaitus on a later date."

"Of course, Sir." Harry replied calmly keeping his voice in a polite tone.

"We'll meet you in Rome on the first for Dinner." Albus said jovially causing a small smile to form across the other Mage's face.

"I look forward to it. Now, if you two gentlemen will excuse me I need to figure out how many of my troops you killed earlier, Albus. You've been keyed into the wards so you can leave when you're ready." With that said the white-garbed warlock vanished without a sound.

"So how's the treaty look?" Harry asked telepathically as he picked up the discarded invisibility clock and summoned his dagger from the corpse at the bottom of the chamber.

"Excellent, he will assist in handling the old guard once you defeat Riddle. Amazingly he also _**volunteered**_ to teach you after you reach the category four power threshold." Albus replied as he began to reattach his armor.

"That's…surprising."

"Your use of the Crucaitus must have had an effect on him."

"It was the only one of the five totally unshieldable spells I know that was practical given the situation."

"It was also proof that when backed into a corner you put winning above everything else, you used a forbidden category 5 dark arts spell without hesitation because the situation called for it. To someone as Machiavellian as Malvolio de' Medici that was concrete proof he needed to see to know that you have the potential to surpass your enemies."

"Glad I didn't disappoint." Harry had folded the Cloak of Invisibility and was trying to find a pocket that he could store it in.

"You should be. He was actually rather impressed with your growth. When I showed him the memory of your graveyard duel with Riddle he was shocked at how fast you've improved. That said he still see's you as weak."

"Why am I not surprised?"

"Because you know you are still years away from being truly dangerous to someone of his caliber. If I hadn't shot him in the back with a lightning bolt you would have lost."

"Would have? Albus I _**did**_ lose. I was dead! Which raises the small issue of how the hell you managed to save me."

"An irrelevant question-"

"Bullshit, I've regrown over two thirds of my body mass with zero scaring. You're missing an arm and a rib, and Fawkes just had a burning day almost half a millennia ahead of schedule. So I'll ask you again: what have you done?" Without even looking at his apprentice Albus pulled a firebolt out of his pocket and tossed it over to his apprentice before pulling out a second and mounting it.

"Are you even listening to me?" Albus took off on his broom and flew skyward like a rocket.

"Hold on Fawkes" Harry muttered to the bundle hanging across his chest. After receiving a soft tweet in response he mounted the broom and flew after his maverick mentor.

Flying was something Harry never found himself becoming bored with. There was something about being through the air at almost forty meter's per second that just made him feel _**alive**_.

'_No offense Fawkes but this beats fire-apparition every day of the week._'

Of course even someone as practiced as Dumbledore couldn't create a portkey that traveled over a thousand kilometers. Fawkes' most powerful asset wasn't a battle skill or even her healing abilities. Rather it was her ability to travel _**anywhere**_ in an instant. Admittedly she was limited in her ability to transport people, especially through wards around enclosed spaces. It was a miracle that she'd gotten them al1 to the Island with only one stop in the middle of Sardengna.

For trips that were around one thousand kilometers there were two options: Chain apparition, repeat International Portkeys or flight.

Since chain apparition to unfamiliar locations became more difficult at longer distances, and ministry issued portkeys were obviously out of the equation, flight was the only option. As Harry flew through the air spinning like a bullet from a rifle, before blasting out of the citadel at a little over 200 kilometer's per hour he could honestly say he was pleased with their travel arrangements.

Getting a lock on his master, who was traveling north by northwest, Harry launched into pursuit.

A standard issue Firebolt was advertised as being able to reach speeds of two hundred and fifty kilometers per hour. After removing the useless kick stand and a few of the less important enchantments the broom was capable of breaking the three hundred mark. As the wind blasted off small fragments of his partially incinerated battle gear, which now was tattered ashy looking pants that cut off below the knee and a shirt the only covered his left shoulder and wrapped around his stomach, Harry realized why there were speed limits on most schoolchildren's brooms. Anyone who lacked the ability to wandlessly strengthen their bodies with magic would probably go blind and bald from the wind pressure.

'_Ah sweet understanding._'

Despite the frigid wind that wracked his body Fawkes, who was safely bundled against his chest, emitted waves of heat that ran down his body heating even the tips of his exposed toes.

As the wind roared by deafening his hearing Harry locked his eyes on the faraway form of his mentor. He was catching up to the aged sorcerer slowly but steadily.

'_He probably isn't able to fly as fast now that he's missing an arm and a rib. Plus he's got that heavy armor on._'

There was a little over seven hundred meters between them.

'_With any luck, I'll reach him before we reach the Tyrrhenian sea._'

The flight was uneventful for the longest time until the duo reached Catania at which point Harry had thrown caution to the wind and soared down to take in the sites (as much as one can when they are one hundred meters off the ground flying at three hundred kilometers per hour in the middle of the night.)

And as they left Sicily behind and tore past Filicudi and Salina Harry was only ten meters behind his mentor. It wasn't until he was that close that he realized that trying to talk to someone telepathically while both individuals were traveling at eighty-three meters per second was probably a bad idea. And so he spent the next two and a half hours of the flight performing barrel rolls, dives that brought him within an inch of the sea surface, and upside down ascents that would have ripped the wings of any pilot foolish enough to attempt them. As they blasted over Sanremo at five fifty five Greenwich Mean Time Harry was more then ready to stop flying.

Luckily they were in an area that allowed Albus to give Harry an accurate idea of the coordinates for the next few legs of the trip: Sanremo to Lyon. Lyon to Paris. Paris to Bristol. And finally, Bristol to Hogsmeade.

Six thirty found a tired barefoot ragged Harry Potter, an exhausted Albus Dumbledore and a chirping Fawkes in the Headmasters office.

"So…" Harry began sending out a telepathic message.

" Our total casualties? An arm, rib, one extremely awesome coat, one suit of body armor, one pair of boots, one pair of gloves, one wand, my infamous scar, and about ten years off the end of my life. Did I miss anything?"

Albus, who was removing his armor, nodded absently.

"That is a fair evaluation."

"Excellent then on to business." Harry replied walking around the office and placing the small sleeping phoenix chick and the bundle of ash on the golden fireproof roost.

"Business?" Albus' bemused tone flitted through Harry's head and the teen turned to lock eyes with the Warlock.

"Yes, business. Like what it was you did to bring me back from the dead."

Albus' face hardened.

"Harry you really _**do not**_ want to know."

"Oh, no. I think I do. I _**really**_ think I do."

Occulmency is an obscure branch of magic. And like most of the branches of magic there are very few true masters of the practice. A little known fact about Occulmeny known only to the masters of the art was that the original purpose of the practice wasn't self defense. No, Occulmency was originally a trap that drew someone who made eye-contact into the user's mind and then sealed the victim in an inescapable world where they would live a life constructed of memories both real and counterfeit until they were released. If the victim escaped they would usually loose their minds and be reduced to a perpetually confused state stuck between reality and the occluded world they'd been trapped in. That said, Albus Dumbledore was a master Occlemens and when he realized Harry wouldn't cease until he knew the truth he yielded and pulled the curious teen into his mind forcing the boy to live through the event from the perspective of Albus Dumbledore:

Lightning flies from my wand tip and strikes the Medici at the base of his skull. I didn't hold back, but I need not worry, something so weak couldn't possible kill him. I know he's fallen unconscious when the spell cascade collapses in a massive series of explosions. Usually an uncontrolled outburst like that wouldn't be cause for concern but Harry has probably fallen unconscious and that means that he can't avoid the corrosive, smoldering smoke that Malvolio's creations typically produce. I bolt down the stairs, transforming the stone around the Prince of Medici into a prison, locking his body in place. As I run down the steps I use a whip of fire to carve strengthening, and magic draining schemes into the stone construct. As I transform and banish the smoke away while running towards Harry's form I feel my stomach clench in anxiousness. When the smoke clears Harry Potter is almost gone. Fawkes appears beside me in a burst of flame illuminating Harry's injuries for my viewing pleasure:

Skin gone, bones burning away, all the muscles and organs of his upper left abdomen melted together in a soup, brain exposed to the world behind the disfigured remains of his skull. No matter how many horrors I saw back at the fall of Grindelwald I never became numb to the sights and smells of carnage, even as I clean the disfigured corpse and put a stasis charm into place I feel my body shaking in revulsion. I can feel it faintly, Harry's tired confused consciousness barely there just outside . I can only postulate that Riddle's new body must be acting as a tether for Harry. Regardless of how, he's alive so I can save him still.

I begin throwing off my armor as I send out a tendril of my consciousness looking for my renegade student.

"…_DAMN! If we lost Albus will never let this go_." His thoughts are faint but they are there. I just need to keep him thinking and on the edge where I can pull him back.

"_Very true._" I send out my reply to his thoughts as I begin carving the schematic for the blood, bone, and flesh transfer.

"_Albus_?" I feel him send out his already weak consciousness in search of me.

"_Stop! Don't strain yourself. You're on the border still. Just hang on for a few more minutes._" As I finish quelling my reckless apprentice I realize that I don't have the magic to bring him back. I can't believe it! The pair of us just defeated the most powerful sorcerer in Mediterranean and I'm not strong enough to perform this ritual? It's ridiculous!

Fawkes lets out a loud cry and I look at my companion who has leapt atop Harry's waist and is bobbing her head between his and her chest.

"Fawkes are you mad? Cross-species transfer will probably kill…him." Of course, I should have seen it. If he is still alive now even when his heart is gone and his blood is dust of course he can survive the transfer! He's legally dead as it is. Even if it doesn't work I'll be able to try something else.

As I alter the schema to incorporate Fawkes blood and magic I begin speaking to Harry again.

"_You gave me quite a scare._" Harry latched onto the message and replied.

"_Well, since you're healing me is it safe to assume we won._"

"_Indeed. You're little stunt almost killed us all though. You really should thank Riddle right now._"

"_His little blood ritual's got me bound to earth?_"

"_That is my hypothesis._"

"_So why can't I wake up?_"

"_When Malvolio lost consciousness, his spells went into a cascading explosion. Your body suffered extended exposure to the corrosive agents and was all but destroyed._"

"_So why can't you just give me a vial of your patented unicorn extract?_" I almost chuckle, only Harry would be so casual about drinking a unicorn's life force.

"_You don't have a digestive system at the moment, your throat is gone, and I will not risk diluting your blood with an intravenous transfusion._"

"_How the hell is my heart beating?_"

"_It isn't. Your body is in stasis at the moment and I am trying to repair your major injuries so that your magic will send you into a healing trance._"

"_What took you so long? I was getting slaughtered._"

"_I was trying to remove his army, that's why I sent you through the wood as a diversion. I left a magical prompt at the portal to let you know it was safe to enter and then I went in through a different entrance. They didn't even notice my entry into the citadel_."

"_So did you have any trouble?_" I briefly recall dodging one thousand silver javelins, and a storm of iced fire.

"_Yes I did, Malvolio has an interesting pupil._"

"_He give you much trouble?_"

"_Yes, She was undoubtedly my most difficult opponent since I last dueled Tom in 1980._"

"_Thanks, I feel really loved now._" I can almost see his indignant face as his voice flits through my mind.

"_Harry, you are hardly a dangerous opponent_."

"_That is why you had me fight Malvolio. He wouldn't see me as a threat and he would try and take me alive._" While Harry speaks I cut Fawkes on her chest and dark scarlet black blood flows freely from her chest onto Harry's fresh corpse.

"_That, your notoriously good survival rate, your improved unpredictability, and your ability to perform well under pressure were all factors_." As I finish my reply I mark out my arm and rib for the sacrafice.

"_I suppose I should take that as a compliment?_"

I nod to Fawkes who begins pouring out magic that almost looks like a gold mist.

"_Albus?_" I can here the worry in his voice, and I pass my final warning as I feel the ritual latch onto my rib and crawl up my arm.

"_Harry don't try to fight this._"

Pain cripples me as my rib burns away inside my body, my mind freezes as the agony of my arm disintegrating overpowers my senses. I can't see, I can't hear, and I can't feel anything but pain as my magic tears away from my body.

The memory warped and Harry fell to the floor of Dumbledore's office.

"Any questions?" Albus' telepathic words pierced Harry's muddled mind.

"Yeah, what were the side effects you mentioned earlier tonight?" Harry replied pulling himself to his feet as he massaged away the headache he knew was coming.

Albus smiled benignly.

"Regeneration, perhaps a better grasp of pyrokinetic magic, far more effective skill apparating through wards."

"Sounds great, what are the negatives?"

Albus was quiet for a moment.

"You probably lost your ability to be an animagus. Given your heritage it was almost assured you would be able to gain the skill. I didn't mention this before but your father and grandfather gained secondary forms. Like metamorphs, animagi usually are usually from pureblood families who married other people with complimentary traits that would accommodate the skill."

"That's why Nymphadora is a metamorph! The Black's were capable metamorphism but they weren't expressing the trait because it was in conflict with some other trait and when when Andromeda married Ted Tonks the trait was expressed!"

"That is the hypothesis."

"So since I've got my blood mixed with Fawkes' I may not express the ability to become an animagus?"

"That's about the size of it." Harry let out a loud sigh.

"Well, that's a relief. I thought for a second you'd say I was going to start having seizures, become a hemophiliac or that my bone density was going to become nonexistent."

Albus raised an eyebrow.

"You are taking this rather well? I would have thought you would be a bit miffed."

Harry shrugged.

"For all we know my mother could have covered the trait. Besides, I need to get stronger fast and while the ability to turn into an animal at will would be useful I don't really have the time to waste learning to turn into something that probably won't help me against category four and five Sorcerers."

"You are really growing up aren't you?" Albus replied with a wane smile on his face.

"Guess you're wearing off on me Old Man." Harry said stretching out.

"It's seven twenty already? I'm going to bed." Albus raised an eyebrow.

"What about your classes? You can't just skip them." Harry smirked.

"Sure I can what are they going to do give me detention? Besides I took the N.E.W.T. tests last week. I don't have to go to school anymore."

"Don't Smirk Harry your-"

"Face will get stuck like that." Harry finished causing Albus to sigh tiredly

"You will be the death of me."

"Not funny."

"Still I suppose a sick day wouldn't be a bad idea."

"I died and you lost an arm. I think that's worth a day off as long as we aren't in a combat zone."

"Very true Harry. Get some sleep. I will see you in fourteen hours for dinner."

"Rest easy. Albus, Fawkes." Harry turned and walked out the door. Albus leaned back in his chair and smiled before looking at Fawkes and asking aloud:

"I wonder when he will remember that today is a Sunday."


	12. Breaking the Silence

{Breaking the Silence}

"What's up Mate?" It was November 27th, two day's after the blitz against The Prince of Medici. One day since Gryffindor tower woke up to find a scar-less Harry Potter still unconscious in his bed at noon, and two hours after Umbridge had turned into a toad during lunch in the great hall and her classes subsequently cancelled. Harry and Ron were walking up one of the staircases that emptied onto the seventh floor corridor.

"Nothing just thought we'd hang tight since you don't have defense. | _I need help with my training so I got rid of Umbridge so you could give me a hand._" Ron had finally progressed to the point of being able to pair telepathic and spoken messages simultaneously.

"That's cool. | _That was bloody fucking amazing! Where are we headed?_"

"I figured that we could swing by a empty room and practice some spellwork. | _Dumbledore gave me the okay to bring you into the loop. I need you to help me with my wandless shielding._"

"Sounds good. | _Wandless Shielding? You're putting me on again aren't you?_" The duo reached the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy being trampled by trolls and Harry paced back and forth three times causing a door to appear. Harry wrenched open the door and the duo walked into a large circular domed chamber with hundreds of floating bulls-eyes made of wood whizzing around the room erratically.

"So what's the plan?" Ron asked whipping out his wand and turning his school robes into a lighter material, as Harry took off his robe and armored under shirt.

"I want you to attack me silently with piercing hexes, cutting charms, _Incendio_s, Stunners, and anything else that comes to mind, from under this…" Harry replied tossing the cloak of invisibility to the red-head.

"…while I wandless break all the targets."

'_and test out the limits of my regeneration._' He added mentally.

Ron looked at the cloak and back at Harry.

"Being around Dumbledore's made you a little barmy. You know that, right?" Harry shrugged in response, causing Ron to chuckle before donning the Cloak and fading into invisibility.

The moment Ron was gone Harry dodged to the left and fired a pair of piercing hexes from his fingertips at the two nearest targets. Just as they connected a beam of red flew through his peripheral vision and he deflected it with the back of his left hand.

'_Come on Ron give me some credit._'

Twirling to his right he incinerated at another target with a snap of his fingers as a piercing hex flew towards his head.

Letting magic flow through his body to the predicted point of impact, and turning his head so that it was a glancing blow, the spell connected with a clapping sound as it's force was dispersed outwards. Unfortunately the force was still there and it was focused enough to push him off balance.

Harry stumbled backwards and on reflex alone he dodged out of the way of the follow-up spell. Raising his palm he caught the _Incendio_ that flew at his side and with a flick of his wrist he threw it at a target-passing overhead.

The familiar whistle of a slashing wand made him turn and raise his hand, catching the crescent blade of a cutting spell in his hand and shattering it. Just as the magic dispersed a piercing hex hit him in the shoulder running a hole through the flesh.

'_He's better, I'll give him that._' A gesture of his hand as he dive rolled under a jet of fire the wound rapidly regenerated. Kicking one of the targets as he came out of the roll he swung his arm in a circle and a thin crescent of magic bisected a pair of nearby targets.

Whipping his arm down he blocked an incoming piercing hex with his elbow and bolted to avoid the wave of fire that followed in its path.

'_In hindsight I should never have told a pyromaniac like Ron that fire spells were okay._'

Spinning on his right heal and swinging back deflecting a cutting charm with his left foot the last potter fired duel salvo's of weak piercing hexes from his finger tips, ripping through another set of targets as a stunner flew towards his chest. Opting to fire a series of bludgeoning hexes at the myriad of targets around him the stunner hit him full in the chest and made him stumble a step back.

'_These practices are probably going to kill me, aren't they?_'

The sound of a wand flick was the only warning Harry had that Ron had unleashed another spell. Ducking under a piercing hex and then jumping over the cutting hex that followed afterwards he sent two bursts of flame at the targets farthest from his position before bracing himself and extending his palms to deflect the blast of fire that was bearing down on him into a cluster of nearby targets. When the flames stopped his blistering hands were already healing.

'_On second thought, blocking elemental magic barehanded was probably not my best idea._' Harry thought bemusedly as he sidestepped another stunner.

'_Of course it doesn't help that Ron put a silencing charm on his shoes before he started running around the room. That unpredictability is getting to be a real pain to deal with._' Hands healed to functionality he caught cast a wave of bludgeoning spells at some of the more elusive targets as another stunner hit him in the back causing his vision to blur for a split second.

'_That's thirty-five in thirty seconds. And Albus wants me to have fifty in ten by the end of the week?_'

Twisting at the sound of a wand flick he snapped his right leg around and punted an incoming stunner like a football sending the red light into a nearby target. Throwing himself sideways he ducked under jet of fire and caught a leg-locking jinx with his left hand before shattering the spell into formless magic when he clenched his fist.

One snap of his fingers and a nearby target burst into flame, one flick of his wrist and a pointing jab of a finger and a twelve millimeter hole was punctured through another, a punch into the air bludgeoned another bulls-eye, imploding it in on itself, a kick of his leg and a banisher sent a broken target smashing into an intact one. Twirling out of the path of piercing hex and fluidly leaping over an arcing cutting hex Harry almost didn't notice the _reducto_ that screamed through the air on a collision course with his skull.

'_Ah Bloody freakin' hell!_'

While in mid-air he couldn't very well move and as he was forbidden from apparating in Hogwarts while anyone could see him lest Albus curse him black and blue for spilling the beans, as a result Harry was left with one option. Raising his arms in front of his skull and crossing his forearms to block the spell at the last second that blue bolt of light impacted with a meaty thump sending the teen careening across the room into the wall. As he bounced off the wall he looked down at his arms.

'_Well Damn, Just Damn._'

The _reducto_ was mostly blocked by the wandless shield he'd put up instinctively, but if there was one thing Ron had always been good at it was curses.

"_Pent up aggression and an inferiority complex does wonders_."

As he looked at his mangled forearms he almost wanted to laugh.

His arms were twisted out of shape, the ulna and radius clearly broken, the skin was ripped off and it singed fragments hung of his arms like ripped clothe revealing his exposed muscles that were reduced to ash at along most of the exposed surface.

'_Why do all my training partners almost kill me_?'

The only consolation about the situation, other than his successful survival, was that before his eyes he could see the flesh healing before his eyes. Ash flaked away and the arms twitched as the bones pulled back together.

"Nice try Ron. Very impressive." Harry said with a light chuckle as he took a step away from the wall.

"But that won't work twice." Forcing healing magic into his arms his bones snapped back together with an agonizing crunch. The charred flesh finished flaking off and the flayed skin began reattaching itself.

'_Well that was draining I guess even phoenix blood has limits. Of course beggars can't be choosers. _' Flexing his now healed arm Harry pointed his pointer and middle fingers at two targets and fired a pair of piercing hexes effectively restarting the practice. A whistle in the air gave the only warning Harry would receive that Ron was casting again. The blue light of a _reducto_ flew towards the youth for the second time that day. However, this time he was prepared. Opening his palm and slapping the blue spell sent the curse smashing into another target reducing it to ash on impact.

'_That stung, it probably sheered of a layer of my skin when I hit it._' Harry's analysis was cut off as his cloaked partner conjured a pair of spiked ball and chains and began using them as whips. Ducking under the spiked ball as it flew through the air Harry grabbed the attached chain and yanked on it causing the chain to drop limp.

'_They're a distraction? NO!_'

He dropped the chain and jumped back just as the chain let of a series of soft cracks while small nearly imperceptible sparks ran between the individual links.

'_You really aren't going to go easy are you? I knew I'd regret explaining electricity to you._' Dodging the electric chain as it lashed out like a snake Harry felt a chuckle growing in his throat.

'_Enchanted it did you? I suppose that isn't cheating. Course you can't beat me with a trick I taught you Ron!_'

With a wave of his arm he banished the flailing sentient chain at one of the targets, and blocked an incoming piercing hex while dodging the other electric flail. As the spiked ball came flying at his gut he used a burst of magic to leap over the projectile and past one of the targets which he pushed off of sending the construct flying towards the enchanted weapon. The chain of the spiked ball flew out like a scorpion tail and impaled the target before extending an extra ten meters chasing after the wandless wizard.

'_Of course he would figure it out, I'm working wandlessly and he's realized what his advantage is. The advantage of the wand isn't simple charms or linear attacks, it's the ability to simplify complex magical processes like transmutation, enchantment, warding, and conjuration with a precise focus._'

Ducking under the extending chain and leaning to avoid the sweeping metal as it whipped around in an attempt to bludgeon and/or bind him, Harry summoned targets to block the spiked ball that lashed out at his face. The enchanted weapon smashed through the constructs and continued their destructive chase around the room.

'_Well, guess I can't look a gift horse in the mouth can I?_' Harry thought as he twirled out from the path of another runaway _reducto_, which created a crater in the floor and sent out bits of shrapnel that he was hard pressed to avoid.

'_I wonder what Albus would do if we broke the Room of Requirment._'

Harry wondered as he leaned back to avoid the swinging chain before throwing himself into a back handspring to leap away from the chain as it lashed out at his feet. The impromptu handspring ended when a banisher from his opponent sent him sliding across the floor and into the wall. Upon impacting the stone wall he threw himself sideways to avoid the two electrically charged spike-balls that flew into the stone wall. The dodge sent him right into the path of a piercing hex, which stabbed into his leg puncturing the skin before stopping before it could rip through his muscles like tissue paper.

'_And __**now**__ I'm finally getting it. Guess I really am incapable of learning things without trial by fire situations._'

The sound of shifting metal drew his attention. Harry looked at the ball and chain constructs that writhed before him. The mace like ends shrunk away and the smooth rounded chain links grew long menacing spikes that had sparks leaping from one tip to another.

Opting to absorb the incoming stunner rather then avoid it Harry banished the still morphing chains across the room and through another trio of targets while summoning a fourth target to himself which he backhanded shattering it into a multitude of shards which he levitated and banished at another group of targets as a cutting charm bit into his shoulder succeeding in only leaving a small cut in the muscled flesh. Piercing hexes left welts and bruises that began fading even as they appeared, stunners were shrugged off and bludgeoning charms dissipated on impact.

It wasn't until a jet of flame flew towards him that he actually moved to avoid an attack. Without looking at the spiked chain that lashed at him he banished the metal annoyance across the room and with a snap of his fingers he caused a target to explode as fire erupted out from the center of its wooden frame. Suddenly a burst of light appeared in his peripheral vision and Harry leapt away to avoid the incoming spell that, upon hitting the stone wall, left a massive gash in the stone.

'_Upping the stakes a bit Ron? That was probably sectumsempra not the most lethal cutter but I'd rather not take my chances. I doubt I'll be able to just block that with my reflexive shields._'

Trying to gauge Ron's next attack while still fighting he spun around in a circle and cast a wide area banisher that deflected Ron's chain monsters and hurled nearby targets across the room. In the middle of the spin he saw the _reducto_ fly towards him, keeping his hand open as he spun out of the curses path he slapped the spell and redirected it towards one of the targets. Even as he batted away the spell he heard the sound of a wand slashing through the air behind him. The sound gave him enough warning to spin to face the incoming cutting curse. The spell impacted against his forearms and dissipated leaving only thin shallow cuts on his skin; however the force behind the spell was enough to through him off balance so that he fell backwards.

'_This needs to end soon, I'm not going to be able to block these forever._'

Rolling off his back and into a crouch Harry raised his left forearm to block another cutting curse while firing a bludgeoning hex at one of the few undamaged targets left in the room.

'_I've got another ten of these left. Dear god! I __**am**__ going to finish this!_'

Rolling sideways to his right out of the crouch and avoiding a torrent of water that blasted his previous position he almost missed the sound of whistling as a pair of electrically charged chains swung at his legs and chest.

'_Oh bugger._'

Pain exploded through his body as the first chain smashed into the back of his knees and wrapped its spiked length around his calves piercing through his skin and puncturing his muscles. Even as the pain overwhelmed him he through out his hand and caught the second chain using magic to insulate his hand, while simultaneously nullifying the enchantments on the chains cutting into his legs.

'_Ad Proprium Sacire!_'

The pain evaporated as the magic left the disintegrating metal binding his legs and flowed into the spiked chain in his hand causing it to begin steaming and glowing red.

Whipping the superheated, electrically coated, spiked chain around the room Harry incinerated, smashed and bludgeoned the last of the targets in a fluid arcing motion before dropping the chain to the ground where it instantly turned to a long steaming piece of rusted iron.

"Game Over." The words left his lips and he collapsed to his knees as Ron dropped the Cloak of Invisibility and darted over to his best mate who was slowly pulling himself to his feet while chanting.

"Merlin's Balls! How are you still conscious?" Harry continued chanting for a few moments before stopping and letting out a sigh of relief.

"I've had much worse than electric spikes shoved into my legs. Besides you held back at the end. If you'd hit me with a _reducto_ to the skull or chest you'd have won."

Ron began chuckling before breaking out into hysterical laughter.

"Hit you with a reducto to the… You have gone daft!"

A now completely healed Harry Potter stood up and looked at the red head with an amused smile.

"Old news Ron. Besides if you are going to be my second you need to have the power to kill me."

"That makes no sense at all! And when the bloody hell did I get stuck being your second?"

Harry flashed a toothy smile and with a few jabs of his wand he repaired his ripped, burned, and torn pants.

"You volunteered for the position when we were first years. Besides your perfect for the job, you've gained a proficiency in Occluemency that will allow you to go into a coma if you're interrogated, you're loyal enough to fight when the odds are against me, mad enough to trust me, share my interests and are willing to do insanely dangerous and/or stupid missions on extremely short notice. It's an added bonus that you actually have the potential to become a category three mage."

"Great, mind tellin' me what that last bit means."

"The Categorical classifications of magicians. Runs 1 through 5 based on three different traits: Skill, Power, and Knowledge. Category 1 means the individual possesses elementary spell knowledge, and can use spoken wand magic up to what is essentially NEWT level, basically eighty-five percent of magic users are in this category. Category 2 means NEWT level proficiency in potions, mastery of silent wand focused transmutation, charms, offensive spellcraft, enchantments, and wards. Category three means complete mastery of all basic spellcraft, wandless apparition, basic telekinetic magic, precise knowledge of magical flora and fauna, proficiency in warding, enchanting, curses, basic battle spells, and magic sensing. Category Four is the point that a magician becomes a Sorcerer, it means a comprehensive understanding of the basic magical fields, mastery of alchemy, precise sensing, basic precognition, advanced knowledge of wards and enchantments, control over elemental magic, the ability to wandlessly block and cast elementary spells, the ability to instinctively augment physical strength and agility, and immunity to most curses. Category Five Sorcerers are the few individuals that push beyond the parameters of Category Four."

"People do that?" Ron asked incredulously causing Harry to chuckle.

"Of course! Blood magic, ritual magic, summoning portals, advanced alchemy, arithmetic and astrological spells that require precise sensing abilities, precognition, spatial and temporal displacement, permanent conjuration, the advanced mind magics, the territorial curses and enchantments; There is an endless ocean of subjects! You didn't really think there was a limit did you?"

"So how strong are you now?" Ron asked eagerly ignoring his friend's question.

"I'm just breaching my way to Category Three in knowledge and skill, I punctured through in the power classification almost two months ago."

"I'm surprised Dumbledore is letting you tell me all this." Harry's eyes darkened slightly.

"He's aware of your possible betrayal. Unfortunately, it's doubtful he'll be around much longer to act as my partner. I need a second. Moody, Sirius, Lupin are all washed up has-beens. Snape is untrustworthy; nothing Albus tells me will make me trust that man. He betrayed the monster that could rip away his magic on a whim; he could betray us with far greater ease once Albus snuffs it. That leaves me with: Kingsley Shacklebolt, he's too old to see me as his equal. Tonks, no way in a buggered warthog's backside am I putting my life in the hands of someone who has the coordination of an epileptic cross-eyed cat with an inner ear defect. McGonagall, No way in hell. your brothers or you. Flitwick, who is still fighting off a category five curse that he suffered fifty years ago. And Horace Slughorn who would double cross his mother if it might benefit him."

"So I was your only choice?" Ron asked quietly, disappointment evident in his voice.

"Hell no. I could probably convince Ginny, Fleur, Luna, Neville, Hermione, Susan Bones, Daphne Greengrass, Padme, Parvati, Lavender Brown, Cho Chang, Draco or Viktor Krum to take the job."

"You don't like half of them and the other half you are barely aquaintances with."

"True, but stranger things have happened. Regardless I picked you before I knew any of them and I now choose you over any of them."

Ron's face broke into a wane smile.

"Then I guess I'll keep the position."

"Good. I didn't want to have to erase your mind for the sake of secrecy." Harry replied before walking out of the room as a very pale Ronald Weasley followed sending out a telepathic message as he followed.

"_You were joking, right? You wouldn't wipe my mind, Right. Harry?_"

Harry didn't turn around or respond. He just walked down the corridor as if he hadn't heard.

December 1st twenty-two hundred hours found Harry and Albus leaning against the Wrought iron fence that lined the Piazza Carlo Forlanini.

"Sorry to keep you waiting" the deep calm voice of the prince floated through the air.

"It's nothing to worry about." Albus replied looking to where the other sorcerer had appeared standing to the left in kahki pants and a light blue polo shirt.

"The Mediterranean climate is very refreshing after dwelling in Scotland for so long."

"I see you dressed for the occasion." The Medici observed. Indeed while Harry had worn a muggle suit Albus had opted to wear snow white dress robes bearing enchanted clouds floating across the fabric, as well as a tall pointed wizard's cap to match.

"Of course! I am always dressed appropriately." Albus replied causing the other man to shrug.

"It is unimportant, we need to discuss the plan… now." Albus nodded and looked at Harry.

"Why don't you go grab some gelato while we talk Harry |_Go Patrol. I don't want any of evesdroppers._"

Harry wanted to scream or protest. He would have, had he not been so surprised.

"Yes sir!" Harry chirped with a large animated smile on his face as the two sorcerers walked away. As Harry trailed the two Arch-Mages while searching for anything suspicious he found himself becoming more and more incensed with the situation. By the time he'd reached the Ponte Umberto I Bridge he was in a full speed mental rant.

'_You've got to be kidding me! I came all this way to be put on guard duty? I'm worth a FORTUNE! I could defeat the damn Auror corp. single-handed! I'm a bloody class 3 mage! What the HELL! We are in the fucking middle of a muggle area. Albus is a Category 5 sensor he can probably tell us how many…Oh Buggery_'

A miniscule pulse of magic, nearly imperceptible evidence of apparition was all the warning Harry received. Whipping around he looked back across the Ponte Umberto I bridge and locked his eyes on the culprit. Walking around the corner of the sidewalk she stood out like a blazing comet in the dull glow of the Eternal City's perpetual light.

'_Oh boy, this won't end well._'

As she strode past the dozen or so pedestrians Harry took in her appearance, while discreetly drawing his wand from the bottom of his suit-coat.

'_Probably sixteen but no older than nineteen, somewhere between thirty-five and fifty kilo's, mature magical signature, probably has a high degree of control over curses and conjurations judging by her aura. She's thin, smaller target, her breathing and heartbeat are subdued, probably in peak physical condition, possibly faster than me if her build is any indicator. Oh boy this is going to end badly._'

Leaning against the white stone that formed the side of the bridge, Harry pointed his wand at the Tiber river below and listened as the water began freezing. The tension in the air became unbearable as the to magicians came closer to each other without deigning to look at him she addressed him with a simple statement.

"You are not supposed to be here." Shrugging off his surprise at her chilling but flawless English Harry smiled wryly.

"So I take it you're not here to ask me out?" She didn't answer.

"So how should we do this? I mean I can't let you go any farther and you clearly want me gone." Harry had barely finished speaking when she replied with a horizontal slice of her wand. Throwing himself backwards he whipped himself over the side of the bridge in a back handspring, dodging the crescent of black matter that flew from the woman's wand and tore through the railing of the bridge leaving a smoking gash in the stone. Landing on the frozen water below with a crunch he barely caught the sound of static cackling above him. With a flick of his wrist he created a levitating wall of ice between him and his opponent just as his opponent discharged the bolt of static electricity at him. The ice exploded just as Harry conjured a massive waterspout and used it to destroy the bridge, and pull the whole construct into the water.

Disapparating and reappearing on the bank allowed him to narrowly avoid a trio of yellow bolts that emitted sulfurous smoke as they exploded against the river. The sound of whistling in the air was the only thing that warned him to leap out of the way as a quintet of massive iron I-beam impaled themselves into the ground where he was standing. A flick and a jab of his wand transmutated the iron to high speed steel and morphed the I-beams into metallic falcons that took to the air and flew around him blocking an incoming killing curse and a series of other spells without difficulty as Harry sent the whole river crashing on top of his opponent in a waterfall of pressure that ripped the stony walls of the canal asunder.

He continued the onslaught for a few moments until he felt his opponent break free via disapparition, reappearing on the opposite bank of the river. The soaked witch conjured a pack of stone wolves that flew across the river towards him. The stone canines were destroyed as the enchanted metal birds crashed into them over the water, their wings of metal feathers vibrated acting like saw blades and easily cut through the stone monsters.

Apparating beside his opponent he lashed out with _Sierra de Fuego_ at point blank range engaging in a close range duel of fire with his opponent who was using a whip of black smoke that ripped through the air with a sound akin to tearing fabric.

The duel put the witch on the defensive and as the metallic falcons dive-bombed her she missed Harry twisting his wrist at the last second, causing the flaming saw like blade to tear through her thigh, leaving a long charred gash and causing her to lose her focus over her spell.

The moment of faltering was all the advantage Harry needed to slip inside her guard and grab her wand arm at the wrist. With a vicelike grip he twisted the arm in it's socket, causing her arm to pop out of its socket with a loud crack after which he continued to twist the appendage until he locked her elbow. Once the joint locked he crushed her forearm over his knee and forced her hand to drop her wand, only for it to fly to her uninjured hand.

Not pausing lest she cast a spell he hurled her bodily against the stone levy and followed up with a _reducto_ aimed at her head. When she disapparated away just before the spell impacted Harry growled gutterally, whipped around and upon fixing his wand on the roof of the Palazzo di Giustizia, were his opponent had reappeared, he spat out the last two words of his mental incantation:

"… Flagrare Torrere!"

Unleashing a stream of white flames at the structure.

The flames burned away the face of the building and melted the stone walls as if they were a constructed out of sugar cubes. As the flames ripped through the stone Harry cast an _engorgio _on the remaining falcons and sent them tearing into the building causing it to crumble to the ground as the flames that were inside the building exploded upward into the atmosphere eagerly consuming the fresh air.

Feeling his opponent disappear from the building he turned to the Tiber and froze over the surface just as his foe apparated into the water binding her in place. Before she could escape Harry unloaded a bludgeoning hex and a disarmer on her. The two spells connected with loud crunches as bones broke. Without pausing to catch the disarmed witch's wand Harry cast a lightning bolt at his bound and broken opponent.

And watched it fizzle out upon impact with a translucent blue shield.

"Well done Mr. Potter." Malvolio's calm voice sounded in his ear and he whipped around to look at the Arch-mage who was standing behind him side by side with Albus.

There was a soft pop as the witch apparated in a heap next to Malvolio.

"You were right my friend. They _**are**_ perfect for each other." Albus said humorously as Malvolio healed the witch with a brief chant and a hand gesture.

"What?" Harry asked incredulously.

"You and Callisto." Albus said simply

"Who?" Harry said in confusion.

"I will speak with you later Albus, good luck. And don't forget my advice." Malvolio said before apparating away with the witch.

"What is going on?" Harry shouted as the sound of a clocktowers in the distance intermingled with the sound of police and fire sirens.

Albus, who had been looking at the moon, snapped his fingers and exclaimed:

"Dear me it's late! We should head back"

And silently vanished.

Anyone unfortunate enough to be the area of the Ponte Umberto I bridge at that moment would have felt the air drop to negative seventy degrees, heard countless car-alarms, and seen every light fixture and window explode as the violent clap of Harry's disapparition sucked in all the air in a thirty meter radius creating a vacuum for a split second while discharged a wave of violent magic.

Yes, December the first was a very bad night for anyone who was unfortunate enough to be at the Palace of Justice.

After leaving two other cities reeling from explosive discharges of raw magic, Harry appeared in the shrieking shack with a bang that rent holes in the walls of the building and woke up the whole village of Hogsmeade.

'_He's Dead. I'll kill him!_" Harry practically flew through the twisting passageways that lead to the Womping willow. He leapt out of the opening in the tree, pulled his firebolt out of his infinitely expanded pocket and flew like an arrow across the grounds, blasting doors open with wandlessly cast banishers Harry ripped through the pitch black hall's of Hogwarts. It took all of eighty-three seconds to get from the Womping Willow to the door of the Room of Requirements.

"ALBUS!" Harry yelled as he jerked the door open and strode into the Room to find a curious sight.

The room was expanded to its full size, throughout it were piles of books, bags, boxes and cages. But the massive quantity of physical objects was nowhere near as overwhelming as the terrible stench permeated the air.

"What the…" Harry deflated just as his master's cheerful voice floated through the air.

"Get the door Harry" Without turning or even looking at the door he used his magic to close it.

"What is that stench." Harry snapped covering his nose only for the smell to remain.

"I"VE FOUND IT!." Albus giddily exclaimed from behind a massive black cabinet.

"What?" Harry said confused far beyond comprehension.

An excited Albus overturned a massive pile of objects and looked over at his apprentice while smilling animatedly.

"Tom **had** to leave a Horcrux here. It's Hogwarts! Malvolio said that we hadn't found all the Horcruxes then we only needed to look in the most obvious places, and he was right! The Diadem was here all along, In the Room of Requirements."

Harry stood staring blankly at his master like he'd turned into a massive flobberworm, before Shaking his head and looking back at the Warlock.

"I'm sorry I couldn't follow that. Could you run that by me again?" Albus either didn't notice Harry's returning irritation or he was to giddy at his recent discovery to care.

"The Diadem was at Hogwarts! The Cup is at Gringotts! It's so simple! Harry my blundering boy wonder, we are almost done!"

Harry took a deep breath and counted backwards from twenty…in Greek.

"That's Great. I'm ecstatic, really I am. But now that we're done breaking bridges, torching national landmarks and racing across Europe, perhaps you could tell me why you have been deliberately keeping me out of the loop whenever you talk to our new _Ally_?"

Albus's smiling happy face instantly changed to the aged visage of the greatest sorcerer in a century as his eyes went from joyful twinkling orbs to cold shards of ice.

"That is classified Harry. You'll know everything soon enough, and when you do you **will** understand why it is that I could not tell you what you want to know at this moment."

Harry opened his mouth to protest before he realized what he was about to attempt. '_Coerce Albus Dumbledore? Right that'll work. Just grin and bear it Harry_'

"Then could you at least tell me why you and Malvolio just had me fight that girl?"

Albus visibly cheered up.

"Well we made a bet to see whose apprentice was better combat trained. Congratulations!"

Harry's jaw fell to the floor as he stared incredulously at the man in front of him. Incredulity quickly turned to anger and Harry found his voice.

"You mean you two arranged to have your apprentices fight to the death over a bet?"

Albus just smiled serenely causing Harry to struggle against his growing urge to torch the entire room with FiendFyre. Luckily Fawkes took that moment to appear in a burst of soothing song that calmed Harry's growing wrath.

"Great." Harry bit out as he looked around the room.

"So now what? We waltz into Gringotts and ask to take a look in every vault that has had a deposit made in the past forty years? Tell them it's about a horcrux and hope the little bastards that invest in everything from human trafficking to muggle arms dealing will suddenly grow a conscience?"

Albus looked at Harry with a blank look, before smiling happily.

"Of course not! We'll steal it." He said it so simply, so honestly that Harry wanted to scream. Of course that wouldn't make his point that way so instead he put on a smile and voiced his thoughts as honestly as he could.

"Oh I get it! We'll just have a jolly heist? Waltz into the most heavily guarded building in the British Isles and pop into a few dozen vaults? My god it's so simple! Why didn't I think of that? Oh wait, now I remember! The vaults are all booby trapped and there is a menagerie of monsters down there, certain death for all trespassers and whatnot. Still, it can't be that hard I mean look at all the successful break-ins."

"Don't be silly Harry." Dumbledore said patronizingly as he walked out of the Room.

"_Silly?_" Harry yelled telepathically as he chased after his mad master.

"_I am trying to point out to an alleged genius that we are discussing robbing bloody Gringotts. Am I talking to myself now? Have I ceased to exist?_"

"_Yes._"

"_Good. I'll go roger the queen then. NO better yet! I'll go write 'Penis' all over the Great Hall, and 'Bollix' all over the Minister's office!_"

"_Don't be gauche, Harry._"

"_Might I point out the slight detail that you're madder than a March hare in a hatter's house! You just had me destroy Government Property in the Eternal City over a bet, and now you want to rob the biggest bank in England!_"

"_Well what do you suggest Harry? That we leave it there and let Riddle live forever? Or do you suppose we can just pay off the Goblins?_" Dumbledore replied as they walked up the escalator to the Headmaster's office. Harry almost shouted a reply but stopped himself.

'_I hate when he's right._'

"So how do we do this" Harry said as they closed the office door and sealed the room up.

"First, we must take care of this." Dumbledore said putting the diadem on his desk.

"Pity we can't just suck the soul fragment out of it." Harry muttered irritably.

Dumbledore opened his mouth to reply and then closed it, before he slapped his hands to his face and let out a very undignified groan.

"What's wrong?" Harry queried in confusion. Dumbledore glared at Harry, exasperation clear in his features.

"Harry you beef witted whelp, why didn't you say that six months ago?" The sage grumbled as he grabbed the diadem and disappeared with Fawkes in a plume of flame leaving Harry blinking owlishly in total confusion. After staring across the empty desk for a few minutes Harry groaned and smashed his head into the desk with an audible bang.

"Oh hell! Oh bloody mother-!" Harry was cut off as Severus Snape came crashing through the door.

"Albus! Where is Albus?" He yelled frantically glancing around the room.

"Probably Azkaban by now." Harry snapped massaging his temples.

"What? Azkaban? Potter this isn't funny!"

"I know! He just up and left! Took Fawkes and blew out of here!" Snape looked at Harry and turned a few shades paler.

"Potter, We need him here now!" They locked eyes and Severus pushed a memory to the surface of his mind and Harry's face lit up.

"That's not a problem, no problem at all." Harry replied standing from his chair.

"Potter, incase you've somehow managed to forget in the past two seconds, the Minister is on his way here NOW! If Albus isn't back in under two minutes-"

"They'll what?" Harry cut in. "Take away a stupid medal? Get rid of his Chocolate Frog collectable card? Levy a fine they can't collect? They're here to remove him from Hogwarts aren't they? _**I**_ can take the Auror Corp. and the staff of this school by myself!"

Changing his suit jacket into a long flowing robe, he sat down in Albus' chair behind the desk before continuing in a more subdued tone.

"If Albus wants to stay at this school there is nothing anyone can do to stop him. And since I'm his second, his vicar and viceroy that means I am in charge until he says otherwise. And there is nothing you, Fudge or that sycophant Umbridge can do about it."

Just as Severus made to protest Harry spoke again.

"Come in Minister."

The door swung open revealing Cornelius Fudge, Dolores Umbridge, Dawlish and Shackelbolt standing outside.

"What business brings me into the presence of Britain's most magnificent Minister?" Harry's soft flowing voice all but slithered through the still air.

"The minister-"

"Trifle late to be making a social call… especially with such a colorful entourage." Harry stated cutting off Umbridge.

"Impud-" Umbridge suddenly became mute mid-word as her voice was replaced by a soft buzzing.

"Very unusual indeed minister. Especially since you've already established your own liaison with the school. There isn't a problem is there?"

"You are quite right my boy. There is a problem that requires Dumbledore's immediate presence." Fudge replied not once breaking eye contact with Harry.

"A shame, he just left a little while ago on business that's why Professor Snape and myself are waiting here. Perhaps you'd like us to carry a message? Surely the Minister has other business that takes precedence over waiting on a schoolmaster?"

The minister, unfazed by the unspoken barb, only smiled benignly.

"I'm afraid that this is a message that must be delivered to him by me personally. You see I have to make sure that he understands exactly the severity of the situation."

"Severity, Minister?" Harry replied with only the slightest of inflections in his voice. Fudge nodded sagely and walked forward before sitting on the headmaster's desk.

"Yes, I just can't express how concerned I am for the safety of the children at this upstanding institution. And so I want to make sure he understands exactly what has to happen."

Harry's lips turned upwards slightly.

"Really?"

"Oh yes. He needs understand, I can't trust a lunatic with the lives of Britain's youngest magicians. Moreover, I can't trust a madman to not endanger himself or the public any longer."

"More's the pity." Harry replied as four wands flew through the air into his waiting hand.

"I can't trust you either." He stated simply crushing the wands in his hand.

"Yo-" with a wave of his hand Fudge's mouth closed shut with a snap.

"I'll pass along the message, your presence is no longer required." With a flick of his wand thin ropes of red magic flew out grapping the minister and his entourage.

"I'll see you later, you filthy worsted-brained fop." With a condescending smile and a flick of his wand the quartet was thrown out the arching window behind the headmasters desk and sent hurtling into the lake.

The Castle of Hogwarts has many great traditions, and none has ever been more carefully and thoroughly followed, promoted, and glorified than that of the rumor-mill. For almost a full millennia Hogwarts has claimed the most effectively damaging rumors and the most scandalous and fantastical gossip imaginable. The most carefully kept secrets and stories have often been immortalized, embellished, and propagated within hours of utterance. Inconsequential events and the people involved could become the subjects of legends. Romances, real or imaginary, that involved innocent young girls and naïve little boys would start century-long blood feuds. And reputations and acts gained and performed in youthful ignorance could make or break politicians decades later.

So by the time dinner was served Saturday evening it was common knowledge that Harry Potter threw the High Inquisitor, the Minister of Magic and some number of Aurors (estimates ranged from two to twenty,) from the headmasters office window at a little past three in the morning.

So no one was too surprised when Cornelius Fudge stormed into the Great Hall flanked by a dozen Aurors decked in their blood red battle robs during dinner the next day.

Harry looked at the advancing croud out of the corner of his eye from his seat at the Gryffindor table.

"I think they're lookin' for you mate." Ron said offhandedly. Everyone else at the Gryffindor table slid down the bench away from the pair.

'_Real brave you guys. Thanks a lot for the support. Though… that is most of the senior Aurors. Moody, Williamson, Savage, Shacklebolt, Proudfoot, Dawlish, Scrimgeour, La'ross, Jacobs, Prevarant, Brown, and Smith._'

Fudge put his wand to his throat and cast _sonourous_.

"Albus Dumbledore, Harry Pottter. You are under arrest. Surrender your wands immediately."

The hall was deafeningly silent for a moment before harry sighed and stood up, muttering a chant under his breath as he rose causing the tables benches and students to move so that they lined the walls and left the center of the room Empty except for the dozen Aurors, and Fudge.

"I'm afraid that we don't feel like coming with you at the moment, we'll drop by the ministry later." Harry said walking through the silent hall so that he stood between the Aurors and the Headmaster. Without warning Dawlish shot a stunner at the younger wizard. Everyone watched in shock when the red bolt of magic fizzled out like a doused flame upon impact.

Harry looked right into Fudge's eyes and allowed his lips to twitch into a ghost of a smile.

"So, would you like me to show you the door again? Or will you be letting yourself out?"

Scrimgeour answered for the minister with a simple command.

"Stun him."

Fifteen bolts of red light ripped through the air and were deflected as Harry ripped off his school robe and banished it into the stunners.

"Not the most effective of spells is it?"

Harry queried as the fifteen spaced out forming a circle around the lone wizard, who was now garbed in his lightweight body armor in the form of a grey t-shirt, black military fatigues, tucked into combat boots. Harry smirked and gestured at his bare arms the wand that still lay in its holster hanging from the waist on his right, and the enchanted dagger that was strapped to the calf just above the boot.

"Since ten of you are new to the game, I'll play without my toys." Harry let his mouth curl into a smile as he bolted left sending a banisher at Dawlish just as he rammed his elbow into Proudfoot's chest with a wet crunch.

The banisher sent Dawlish crashing into a wall with a loud thump just as Harry grabbed Proudfoot's robes and threw the gasping man into the path of a pair of stunners while simultaneously channeling a bludgeoning hex into a snap kick that sent the spell into the unprotected forehead of La'ross causing the unfortunate wizard to crumple to the ground unconscious.

'_One fourth._'

Even as he threw Proudfoot, Harry leapt at Shacklebolt. As he grabbed the larger man by the head and slammed him to the ground, knocking the wind out of him, the youth fired a salvo of piercing hexes at Brown and Williamson and Savage, forcing them to sheild. As soon as Shacklebolt hit the ground Harry used a magically enhanced onside kick to send the man flying at Williamson, simultaneously blocking an incoming _reducto_ and Williamson's line of sight with the flying man's body.

Darting across the room faster than humanly possible, Harry ran through one stunner, deflected a second and smashed his knee into Williamson's side breaking four ribs with a wet sound that would be generated by a sledgehammer impacting with a thinly cut steak.

Grabbing the now gasping Williamson's throat, Harry charged using the man as a shield until he was less than a meter from Brown. At which point he used the injured man to club Brown, sent a quartet of piercing hexes through their crumpled bodies and banished the wounded pair at Scrimgeour, who had just finished creating a stone lion.

'_Half-way._'

Dashing across the room at Savage, smashing through a pair of cutting curses and a freezing spell without pause, Harry channeled a reducto into his arm and jammed his fist clean through the older wizard's left shoulder and used the man to block a trio of stunners.

Arm still in Savage's left shoulder, Harry unleashed a surprise quintet of bludgeoning hexes at Prevarant, Scrimgeour, Moody, Jacobs, and Smith before ripping off Savage's left arm, and banishing the bleeding unconscious Savage into Scrimgeour's stone lion.

Cleaning off the severed arm, Harry looked across the room at the remaining five Aurors and smirked.

"You can thank me later. Since you can't figure it out on your own I'll give you a hint."

Harry flung the arm at Scrimgeour.

"Take a look at the left forearm."

Harry watched with amusement as Scrimgeour turned from white to red in seconds.

"Amazing isn't it? I never imagined Death Eaters would get past you Rufus. Guess that makes you just as bad as Lazy-eye over there."

Harry jabbed his thumb at the disillusioned Mad-eye Moody who was sneaking up from behind.

Moody's disillusionment charm dropped as he unleashed a massive jet of fire at the youth. Harry leapt into a back somersault half-turn and dropped a devastating axe kick on the crippled senior Auror, smashed clean through a Master's level defensive shield and a hastily cast duelist's shield before connecting brutally with the left side of the master Auror's neck and shoulder with enough force that his enchanted eye was knocked out of it's socket and sent spinning across the stone floor.

As he crumbled to the floor Moody yelled out one word:

"IMPERIO"

There was a shimmer of light as the spell connected with the youth's head… and then Harry stomped on Moody's wand hand causing the already grounded wizard to let out a roar of pain and drop his wand.

The wand never touched the floor, it flew straight into Harry's where it was used immediately to generate a translucent liquid silver dome around the pair of wizards not a moment before a jet of sickly yellow light, a crescent of black magic, a massive stone lion and a stream of dirty brown flames connected.

Turning on heal, and kicking Moody in the temple, Harry faced the four remaining wizards who watched as their spells and conjurations evaporated on contact with the silver barrier.

'_Two-thirds down_'

The silvery construct darkened for a moment before disappearing in a blinding flash that prevented Jacobs and Prevarant from seeing the two red magical ropes of Carpe Retractum that latched onto their chests and jerked them flying towards Harry Potter who clothes-lined the pair and threw them into the ground with the additional force of wandless banishing spells.

Dodging sideways Harry narrowly avoided the spear of serrated glass that had been aimed at his stomach. Bolting at Smith Harry dodged under the barrage of curses coming from the senior auror while with a swish of Moody's wand he fired a geyser of boiling water at Scrimgeour and sent a trio of wandless piercing hexes in the wake of the scalding water.

Once he was within an a meter of Smith he cut off the geyser aimed at Scrimgeour and leapt into the air using Smiths head as a spring board to flip into a front somersault half turn. As he twisted in the air he pointed Moody's wand at the massive puddle on the floor of the Great Hall and mentally willed his magic out the tip of the wand.

'_Blitz…SCHLAG!_'

A thin lone bolt of lighting flew from the wandtip of the airborne Harry Potter and connected, electrocuting the remaining two Aurors and sending them into unconsciousness.

Landing silently on top of the staff table Harry leveled Moody's wand so that it was pointed right at Fudge's Heart just before Fawkes appeared between the two wizards in a pillar of flame.

"I believe that means my affairs are in order." Albus stated standing from his chair and extending his right arm towards his apprentice.

"Can I Provide you with transportation Mr. Potter."

"If it's no inconvenience sir." Harry shrugged as he replied and latched onto the offered arm with his left hand and threw Moody's wand into the air carelessly.

"I have already made the appropriate arrangements minister. Don't worry, you won't be seeing me _ever_ again. Consider this my resignation from the public eye." Albus stated just as Fawkes let out a deafening shriek and flew into the pair of wizards consuming the trio in a plume of golden flames.

A second later all the flames were gone and all that remained in place where the pair had been standing was Mad-eye moody's wand clattering as it hit the stone floor.


	13. End of an Era

{Chapter 13: End of an Era}

As the cold sea air whipped through his travelling cloak Harry looked at the imposing Citadel of Nürmengard, ominous and terrifying against the perpetually black clouds that surrounded it, he could feel the misery, the darkness, and the screams of a thousand long dead victims seeping into his consciousness like filthy black oil.

"_Don't lose your focus._" Albus' telepathic voice snapped him out of a daze he didn't even know he'd been in.

"_It's all just a matter of willpower, ignore it. It is nothing more than echoes of ancient history better left for dead._" Without looking at his apprentice, Albus walked toward the wall and just before dropping into the stone ground as if it were composed of water.

"Into the Valley of Death rode the 500" Harry muttered following suit dropping through the ground and appearing in the middle of a stone room with shackles and grates on the low ceiling.

"Two steps forward, Harry." Albus said from his position standing on the ceiling about three meters to the left. Once he complied he found himself in total darkness.

"_Turn to your left and then look up._" He did and was underwater looking around at a thousand small shimmering mirrors Illuminated by an omnipresent green glow. He cast a bubble head charm only to have the spell dissipate upon contact with the water. He tried again with the same result. As he began to panic and his vision faded he heard Albus' voice shout into his ears.

"Breath in now!" Each word was punctuated by a blow to the stomach that made him exhale the precious little oxygen he possessed in his screaming lungs.

"INHALE NOW!"

When he complied he felt the water rush into his mouth down his throat and into his lungs. Then, it was gone and he was lying on the ground, dry and tired, but completely unharmed.

His vision returned and he was looking at Albus.

"What the hell was that." He gasped as he sat up.

"An illusion. If you passed out you would have had your magic completely drained and all your internal organs replaced with molten iron." Albus replied.

"Good to know. And you didn't warn me because?" Harry grumbled as he stood.

"The enchantments rotate. I didn't know which one you were in until I saw your reactions. If you'd made the wrong move you'd have dropped into a lower section of the labyrinth and I doubt I'd be able to find you without getting lost."

Harry nodded in understanding as he looked around at the surrounding area. Spiral staircases traveled up into an ash-caked ceiling, rusted spikes, chains, mist and smoke decorated the strange room as dim light flickering over the icy black floor.

"Homey isn't it? This our base now?" Harry asked as he followed Albus up one of the staircases, going straight through the ceiling without.

"No. We are only visiting. This is the only place I have access to that I can verify as completely secure. In addition to being a monstrous memorial of the darkest hour in recent history, it is a massive death trap. No escape is possible, no entry survivable. After my duel with Gellert, I gained access to his knowledge of the fortress. I sealed him here and bound his life to the building itself. He's essentially a muggle now, his magic is unusable in this building and his life is forfeit if he escapes. And since my magic fuels secondary repulsion wards around the building, no one can get access to the building unless I'm the one taking them through the wards."

"So why are we here?" Harry asked as they entered another hidden portal.

"To see me of course." Light flooded his sight as Harry found himself standing in a cell looking at a skeletal Gellert Grindelwald sitting against the wall of the cell nearest to the window.

"I'm not quite dressed for visitors but welcome back Albus. And salutations to you…Harry James Potter son of Peverell." Grindelwald leapt to his feet and stood up ramrod straight with unbelievable grace and positively …freakish agility.

"Pheonix Blood infusion and a true return from the dead. So many legendary things achieved in the form of a teenage boy, will wonders never cease?" Gellert stated staring into Harry's eyes with a smile.

"And you're already on the road to world domination. Dear sweet merciful heavens, this is _**very**_ nostalgic." Gellert's smirk was unlike any Harry had ever seen. It held no naively conceived superiority, overconfidence, no spite, no scorn, and no hint of anger or irritation. It purveyed only morbid amusement, eager anticipation, ruthless cruelty mixed into complete and utter insanity, the type of insanity that could only be born from a thousand experiences of sin.

"I see you've picked up some new abilities Gellert." Albus interrupted.

"Yes arithmancy, astronomy, and divination were the only magic I could work with after our little skirmish, so after a few hundred days I tried integrating the three disciplines into a form of psychic skill. After experimenting I developed a type of insight, one which allows me to view the immediate future of areas both here in this fortress and in the outside world. I've been very busy trying to catch up on events. I'm positively exhausted these days."

"I'd surmised as much. I'll suppose you are aware of why I've brought Harry here."

"Why indeed. It couldn't be training, dungeons are far to dangerous a place to risk your final move on. And it isn't education, there is nothing here of educational significance, excepting me and my magnificent bindings. No, I imagine that you traveled all this way to perform your two final rituals"

"Final rituals?" Harry queried only to be ignored by both Sorcerers.

"Is it safe to assume you've gained insight into my plan."

"Both the plan and the product. It is truly a magnificent design one befitting the Master of Death."

"I presume you are prepared to you assist me then."

It was at that moment that Harry heard the most eerie, entrancing, and disturbing sound of his young life; namely, Gellert Grindelwald's ecstatic laughter.

"Oh I've been awaiting this day for years Albus!" The two Warlock's looked eyes, each sporting an insane grin, and glowing blue eyes.

"So old man shall we prepare your final gambit?"

"If you think you can handle it, you monstrous daimōn."

As Harry watched the two men who'd almost brought about the end of the world as youths, he felt something rising in his gut:

Pure unadulterated fear.

Ronald B. Weasely's letters to Harry Potter

Letter 1.

Harry,

I'm writing everything that happens in a log like you said. If anything noteworthy happens I'll put it in a letter and send it to you.

I hope wherever your holed up you don't need help because the Order's in chaos. There are people like Diggle, McGonagall, and the rest of the old crowd sticking around but all the new recruits quit after you and Dumbledore vanished. School's pretty divided too.

_The Prophet_ caught wind that you already aced the NEWTs back in November. Published a big article about how you've been secretly preparing to be a Dark Lord. Everybody is wondering if you really were mad all along.

Stay safe and all that, I can't wait to see you Mate.

Your number 1 second,

Ron

Letter 7

Harry,

Happy New Year! Tom is out in the open now. Made his move, Walked right into the Department of Mysteries and destroyed the Hall of Prophecies. Fudge is trying to save face but the public wants him out of office. Prophet's calling you and Dumbledore martyrs now.

Can't wait to see you,

Ron

Letter 27

Harry,

School's over and no one knows if Hogwarts will open in September. I don't know if you've heard but Twenty muggle-borns were found decapitated in the Ministry Atrium. It's getting dangerous. Where are you?

Ron

Letter 29

Harry,

The Order has dissolved.

Ron

Letter 46

It's October 31st 1996 and the Ministry has fallen.

God save us.

Letter 70

Hey,

Mum and Dad fled the country with Ginny and the twins. I convinced Hermione and her parents to go to France. I'm bunking in a Grim Place. I finally got the animagus transformation and I've been using it to sneak in and out of Hogwarts to save any students I can.

Letter 87

Moody's dead. Sirius and Remus are in Azkaban, I killed the Rat. Snape's the new Headmaster

Letter 113

Harry,

Neville's gone. Bellatrix broke him. I cut off his left arm before fleeing. I can't keep doing this. I'm not strong enough. I'm all-alone now.

Letter 134

I killed Greyback and his half-breed wolf pack today. I lost my right arm from just above the elbow down. McGonagall's left the cause.

Letter 160

I saw him today. He's stronger, much stronger. I kept thinking maybe just maybe I could finish this myself, but I can't. I'm still too weak.

Letter 179

Snape died yesterday fighting of Death Eaters who were slaughtering the Half-Blood students. The castle's wards threw everyone out and sealed the school up tighter than any vault in Gringotts. Bill and I put it under Fidelus charm with Flitwick as Secret Keeper. He's hidden away in stasis right now. Hogwarts is over.

Letter 186

Bill and Charlie are gone.

Letter 200

October 31st, 1999

I'm going to launch my attack tonight. I can't do it any more. I've attached all the intel I have and all the logs. I hope you find a way to fix this. You're the only one who can. Goodbye and Goodluck.

Love from your brother in all but blood.

R. B. W.

A U T H O R S N O T E S F R O M: ~ The Phantom Fool

I have two endings for this story right now. Originally there were a hundred spinoffs but now there is only two. Both involve a massive slaughter in the next few chapters but following that one involves a massive bought of time-travel, while the other involves a second war on four continents and more Original Characters and more Category 5 fights death and pointless destruction than I can stomach writing. I'm obviously leaning towards the latter because I feel that time-traveling somewhere between fifty and one hundred-twenty years mid story is just too out there even in a story like mine.

Either way those endings will be in a sequel.

Truth be told this story was never meant to reach this point. I originally wrote the first chapter on a whim, looked at some of my Original Characters from the master story I've been writing, and thought: "Eh, what the hell we can make this work."

Ironically enough I still have yet to write the Harry Potter fanfic that I took pieces out of to write this little monster.

I still need to figure out if I'll finish that.

Anyway, I wanted to update this chapter so I would be stuck with a single course of action.

The longer I wait between updates the more I revise the chapters, the more I have to think rather than write.

I've deleted over fifty-seven pages of material for this story. Pivotal Chapters have the tendency of delaying updates. If I wait longer the story is better but if I don't update it just bugs me so here is what I am going to do.

I'm going to try and finish this before new years. (No matter what I do I will still end up leaving loose ends that require a sequel. I originally intended this to be the last chapter but that just won't work.)

Following the finishing of this story I am going to go back and edit every blasted page of this monstrosity and hopefully send it to a few Beta-readers.

After doing so I will repost it with a big REVISED in the summary so everyone knows what happened and can reread that version since I'm keeping this under one hundred thousand words.

Finally, I'll decide on whether I'll right a sequel, write the story I stole the ideas of this from, or quit the FFN scene and actually right my original work, get it published, watch it not sell, reread it ten years later, burn it, change my name and address, and leave the neighborhood/county/state/country/continent. I will burn that bridge when I come to it.

I probably forgot something but I'll address it later when I'm not losing my mind.


	14. The Return

W A R L O C K ' S A P P R E N T I C E

P A R T II

{Chapter 1: The Return of the Master of Death.}

In the two years since Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore vanished Ron had tried his best to fill the gap left behind. He had fought Death Eater's, saved muggles and muggleborns, done his best to protect his friends and family, created a true account of events, person of prestige and places of interest for those in need, while providing access to knowledge, food and sanctuary for countless victims of Voldemort's regime. He had become the hero for many people, a beacon of hope for those who were struggling to escape or survive in the twisted world of Lord Voldemort.

But, for all his efforts he'd never been able to succeed in becoming the man he needed to be in order to fill the place of Albus Dumbledore. He had never expected to be the equal of the man who'd vanquished Grindelwald and sent Voldemort running, but he woke up day after day hoping that he would be strong enough to keep the world in one piece long enough for someone who was strong enough to fix the damage to arrive.

As he slumped bloody and broken against the wall of the now destroyed ministry atrium surrounded by debris from his failed blitz on the government that had ruined his life he did not feel like a hero or a patriot or even like a martyr. He felt like a failure, a fool who'd been playing in a league he had no business being in for so long that he could barely remember the life he had growing up in Ottery St. Catchpole, before he met Harry Potter and began fighting for the fate of the world.

The red headed young man was drained. He had lost his arm, his family, his friends, and his home. And now he had failed in his final attempt on the life of Tom Riddle and was about to lose his life to the same man who was responsible for all his misery.

The Assassination attempts didn't fail because they were poorly planned or executed, on the contrary they should have worked. Using the Imperius to have a house-elf poison the food and spike the drink with imperceptible doses of poisons that would react over time, polyjuicing as a Death Eater and casting _FiendFyre_ while the target was inside apparition wards; all the plans were thought out and carefully executed, but none succeeded simply because Tom Riddle would not die.

He'd spent every idea he and his friends had and then some. Now after two years of trying to teach his peers defensive techniques he barely knew himself, two years of hit and run fights with opponents over twenty years his senior, two miserable years of watching his friends and family die around him as his world fell apart at the seams, three years of following a training regime outlined for him by his best friend, who was still MIA, so that he could cross wands with the monsters that were killing machines decades before he was born. Ronald Weasley was still trying to fight.

It was completely ridiculous, and yet he knew that if he had the option to go back and flee the country, leaving England to burn in the hands of the thing in front of him, he would stand and fight to his last breath every damn time.

"_Avada Kadavra_!"

He watched immobile, with tired eyes, as the jet of green death flew towards him and was caught completely off guard when something grabbed the back of his shoulder and jerked his body away from the incoming bolt of death.

Stunned Ron looked up at the man who'd pulled him to safety.

Standing beside him stood a tall skeletally thin man garbed in a silvery gray robe that flowed down to the ground where it splayed out over the floor the floor. The man's face was obscured by the robe's hood but Ron could make out a face in the ominous dark green light of the mans' glowing eyes. It was faint but once passing glimpse of wild black hair, an insane devil-may-care grin, and those burning green eyes were all the identification he needed.

"Good to see you Mate." He whispered looking up at his old friend.

"Impudent fool, name yourself! You who dares to oppose me!"

Time and absolute power as a ruler had changed Tom Riddle. He'd shed his snakelike appearance in favor of a more regal human form. With a long sloped nose, perfect teeth, midnight black hair flowing down to the shoulders, a distinct square jaw accentuated by a short very pronounce goatee flowing black velvet robes trimmed with gold, long elegant fingers and pronounced shoulders he looked every bit the monarch he had become. The only part that remained from his monstrous form was his glowing red eyes.

Harry chuckled while locking eyes with the High Chancellor of Britain.

"Time is up Riddle. Death is after you and you've nowhere left to fly too." Turning his back to Voldemort, he pulled Ron to his feet and looked back over his shoulder at the Dark Lord.

"I'll finish this stupid little dance of ours soon. But, in the meantime enjoy my masterpiece, it's called the Elegy of _Mará._"

With that said he dissaparated with Ron as the Ministry Atrium was filled with rising music and glowed red for a split second as ten thousands spell-schemes activated throughout the Ministry of Magic and sent the entire complex into fiery oblivion.

A few hundred kilometers away Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley appeared without a sound in the back room of the Hogshead, startling Aberforth Dumbledore who reflexively cast a severing curse at the pair of wizards.

Harry stuck out his open palm and absorbed the scythe-like blade of magic.

"Jumpy aren't you? You are going to hurt somebody doing that Aberforth." Harry quipped pulling back the hood on his robe revealing his eyes with large dilated pupils that gave off an eerie green light, long wild black hair, white skin, a short black beard, and an insane toothy smile.

Aberforth looked at him appraisingly.

"Albus died didn't he." It wasn't a question it was a blunt observation.

"He and Gellert have passed on, I'm all that remains of the two of them…" Harry replied cheerfully as he ran a glowing hand over Ron, healing the red-head's injuries.

"Sorry I can't stay longer, but I'm on my way to the castle." He added as an afterthought.

Aberforth nodded in understanding as he walked up to the portrait of his sister and opened the passage.

"I assume you'll be taking care of the High Chancellor?" The old man queried causing Harry's grin to split even wider and he chuckled darkly, as he and Ron entered the passageway he looked back over his shoulder at the last Dumbledore and smirked in a way very reminiscent of one very familiar, very dangerous wizard as he replied.

"I wouldn't do it for the greater good, you, Albus, all the world, or even for Vengence. "

The passage closed behind them leaving a mute Aberforth standing staring at the portrait of his long dead sister in shock.

As Harry and Ron walked down the passageway to the Castle Ron spoke for the first time since they left the atrium.

"You aren't letting Riddle off."

"Obviously."

"You're going to kill him."

"Of course."

"And…"

"I'm going to do it for me, for practice. This whole world's mine for the next few years, starting now with Hogwarts. "

"Harry Hogwarts is sealed up you won't be able to get in." Harry just smiled at his best mate and chuckled.

"Tell me Ron, do you know what it was the closed the school in the first place?"

The Red-head opened his mouth and closed it for a moment before a look of realization crossed his face.

"Dumbledore?"

"Correct! Dumbledore never stopped being Headmaster, when he left the school the castle was still in his control. He left McGonagall and Severus in charge the former was deputy headmistress and the latter was the ward's guard, responsible for ordering the school opened or closed. Until Albus was removed or dead he was still in charge. When Severus died and McGonagall left the last of Albus' administration was gone. And since there was no legitimate Headmaster the school reverted to hereditary ownership. And since I'm the Heir of Godric and Rowena's firstborn-"

"You control the wards!"

"Correct. And since I was incapacitated and there was no veteran administrators the Castle went into stasis."

"But the school's under the Fidelius Charm. You can't get in."

"Ron do you even know how that charm works? It's based on two things: trust and ownership. The charm is a strong as the owner's trust in the Secret Keeper. My parents didn't make Dumbledore the secret keeper because my dad didn't trust him nearly as much as Sirius, Lupin, or Pettigrew; and my mom, ironically enough, trusted Peter more than Remus and Sirius, go figure."

"But if that's the case-"

"The Charm on Hogwarts is only paper thin for everyone because I don't actually trust Filius that much and even if I did trust him, _**I**_ could punch through the charm easily because I essentially own the whole property and the charm was never meant to stop the owner from entering."

Ron looked very much like a fish at that moment, causing Harry to chuckle in amusement.

"Keep that look, it works on you." Harry replied as the reached the end of the passage and walked into the pitch darkness of the headmasters office. The moment they were out of the hidden passage Ron asked the pertinent question.

"Where were you, Harry?" The ebony haired man looked at the one armed wizard with a look of grim resignation.

"Making the biggest gamble in recent history."

"Care to elaborate?" Ron asked slumping into the headmaster's chair while Harry illuminated the room.

"Two sorcerers fuse themselves into a single sixteen year old. They lock each other in battle and attempt to fight to the death, leaving said sixteen year old in a coma as his body adapts to an influx of more than a thousand times more magic than he's ever been exposed to, much less possessed.

As random pieces from two centuries of combined powers, skills and memories belonging to two psychotic old men integrate partially into the unconscious teen. The second ritual activates.

Second ritual sacrifices the two old men and sends a tether back through time-space to drag me, the only not sorcerer, almost a century back through time."

Harry turned and looked at Ron.

"I was then infused with about one third of their combined power. It killed me and were it not for my bond with Riddle I'd still be dead. As it is I was unconscious for a little under three years while my body morphed to accommodate all the skills that their bodies gained from innumerable battles and my mind adapted to what amounts to forty percent of all their combined knowledge.

It cost three years, caused three deaths and in a few years I'm going to be ripped through the void between eternity and temporality but it's all worth it because I've reached sorcerer level. I'm a category 5 mage and I'm not even twenty yet. There are only about seven people who can beat me in a battle of power and two of them don't plan on making any moves to do so. Now let's talk business."

Ron nodded and his face became serious. Ron wasn't a genius but he could tell that just below the surface Harry really was seething with rage that he'd been used in an experiment, no matter how successful, well intentioned or necessary.

"I've been awake for about twelve hours now I'd already taken care of my wand, cloak, and stone when I found your letters. I assume that you've kept the an catalogue of events for me?" As Harry spoke he began writing runes of fire in the air around him.

"It's not looking good I wrote everything down but I can tell you the sum of events in short. Hermoine, Ginny, Fred, mom, and Bill are hiding on the continent somewhere. George, Snape, Moody, Diggle, Poppy, and Bones are dead. McGonagall tried to flee to the colonies and got killed by the snatchers before she got there. Nymph, Shacklebolt, Black, Charlie, and Vector are in Azkaban. Lupin got the kiss. Sinastra, Daphne Greengrass, and Padme Patil got jobs at the ministry. Neville is working in the snatchers. All that remains from the old Death Eaters is Bellatrix, Rowle, the Carrows, Dolohov, Rookwood, and Selwynn."

"Draco's still alive?" Harry asked as the office ceiling vanished giving them a clear view of the night sky.

"Yeah, him and the rest of our old classmates. Percy's in charge of the new Aurors, as well as being the chief administrator of the Department of Mysteries." Harry froze and turned to look at Ron, looking whiter than Ron thought his friend was capable of being.

"Ron. Please tell me that Percy wasn't working tonight." Ron scrunched up his face in thought.

"I don't know there was fifty people working in the whole complex. He wasn't scheduled to be there tonight, but…" Ron trailed off

"But? But What!" Harry snapped impatiently causing Ron to jump.

"But…well, he's Percy he may have been working late." Though his face was blank Harry was barely resisting the urge to yell obscenities at his second.

"You're telling me that I may have killed our number one spy?" Harry whispered black eyes burning killing curse green. Ron's eyes widened in realization.

"You mean Percy?"

"Was the only other student Albus ever personally trained." Harry hissed.

After a few moments Harry continued in a more subdued tone.

"Albus approached him in his third year and began training him in occlumency and legilimency. He was supposed to be Dumbledore's eyes and ears at the ministry. He was intelligent in the extreme, the most gifted student in tranfiguration since my father, he mastered the animagus transformation at fifteen, and was on his way up the ladder of influence at the ministry the day after graduating. When Fudge turned on Albus, Percy was the only key into the Ministry that we had. Perce had access to all the schedules for the entire ministry, access to all security information, as well as total access to the archives. Albus told him to maintain his position at all costs, even if it meant being disowned by his family."

Ron was pale and trembling by the time Harry finished the explanation.

"He had more to lose than Albus and I did combined. He played the thankless part of a brownnosing prick, he voluntarily sacrificed his dignity for the greater good and now he might have become one of the first casualties of my counter offensive. You've got to love the irony."

Ron nodded mutely. Taking a deep breath Harry smiled and clapped his hands together.

"Right. Draco's alive so we've still got our unwitting ferret accomplice, you, me and anyone we can break out of Azkaban. I can totally make this work."

Two hours later the Master of Death had mapped out a workable two month plan.

Ronald Weasley the first man to lay eyes on it had only one thing to say.

"We are all going to die."

November 5th, 1999 was not a particularly significant date for the Wizarding World but it was an important date for Harry's favorite phoenix's namesake. And that was as good enough reason as any to launch his plan on that day.

At eleven o'clock, Harry appeared on the dock of Azkaban flanked by Ronald Weasley in a flash of golden flame.

"Wards really don't work on you do they?" Ron asked with dull amusement.

"Not ones this weak, no." Harry said extending his right arm out to his side and opening his palm, causing a wand to form from smoke in a crack.

The wand was the Wand of Destiny, but it was altered. Long thin groves of ran over the knobbed length, small thing wire like black lines wrapped around the entire construct. Finally the wand was stained, it was now a shade of reddish-brown so dark it would be easy to mistake it for black.

"Watch closely Ron." As the air chilled and a swarm of black figures appeared flowing out from all over the island Harry raised the wand into the sky in a sweeping motion

"Don't blink. " His eyes flashed brightly for a split-second as ghostly silver flames poured of his body before whipping to the tip of the Elder Wand and condensed into a point before firing up into the sky as a thin perfectly straight ribbon of burning white flames.

"This is the Flames of Horus, third degree: shiv form." Harry said explanatorily as he began swinging the rigid ribbon of lacerating flame in a wide arc. The thin stream cut through everything like with a massive spectral acetylene torch.

White fire ripped flaming grooves into the stone outcropping, and caused the water to explode into steam on contact. The Dementors froze as the blade sliced through the first of their ranks, a good thing too.

Every one of the nightmarish creatures began disintegrating after coming in contact with the blade. The silver smoke that poured off the blade with each stroke caused any one of the monsters it touched to shriek in agony.

Ron watched in shock as his friend walked leisurely towards the citadel, swinging a twenty meter blade of spectral fire through the air and cutting down the most terrifying monsters he'd ever seen as if they were constructed out of lavatory paper.

"Come on Ron." Harry shouted in a jovial tone as he lacerated and incinerated another dozen Dementors trying to flee with a flick of his wrist. Ron started at the shout and rushed to catch up with his partner. Harry walked up to the side of the prison and used his blade to cut a large square outline in the stone wall and bludgeoned the segment of the wall with enough force that the cut stone flew into the citadel, smashed through the inner walls and exploded into a thousand pieces.

"Probably over kill but I'll do it anyway." Harry muttered as he compressed the ribbon of fire into a small orb the size of a marble at the tip of his wand. He began chanting and after a few moments the Marble of Silver flames was wrapped in thousands of symbols that floated around on the surface of the orb.

"Uh Harry?" The Deathstick wielding sorcerer handed the marble to Ron.

"If you get separated from me and you're in a pinch crush it against your wand and cast the Patronus charm." Without sparing another word on his red-headed accomplice Harry vanished into the prison.

Ron looked at the orb, the smoking stone out cropping, the incinerated Dementor remains and the wall of the prison.

With a massive grin and a laugh he followed his friend into the building.

"Right then, cheerio! Dark Lord Potter!"


	15. Destroying the Dementors

Harry whipped down the halls of Azkaban traveling deeper into the prison. Ron would free whoever they needed, his job was a little more…delicate. Dementors were a liability, he doubted anyone truly understood how dangerous they would be if given free rein. Riddle maybe, but Riddle killed a man he'd never met and his family in cold blood at the age of fifteen so his judgment was… iffy.

Contrary too popular belief Dementors were not renegade ghosts, or vampires who'd been corrupted beyond the norm, they weren't monsters like manticores or cockatrices, and they were in no way like Inferi. No, Dementors were actually a single entity. It was a little known fact that Azkaban was controlled by the goblins before it was used as a prison. An even lesser known detail was that the before the goblins possessed it the isle was a citidal controlled by the a viscious Warlock known only as the Earl of Demise. There was an accident during the late fifteen century and the dementors began appearing.

The true story was that the Earl was bested by one of the greatest Sorcerors, one who history attempted over and over to forget. The wizard went by the name of Alhazred, and _He_ was the darkest of all magicians. Darker than Riddle, Gellert, Kimball, Tizoc, and all rest of the modern Dark Artists combined. The man never died and never lost but one day he just got up and walked into hell voluntarily, hand and hand with Satan.

Alhazred destroyed the Earl's mind, Mummified his still living body and sealed the man in a chamber far below the rest of Azkaban. He flooded the chamber with supersaturated saltwater and summoned several demons of despair to torment his foe for all eternity before freezing the prison and sealing the iced vault.

Years later, dementors appeared all over the island, attacking any who approached and reducing them to husks. The dementors where a creation of the Earl. When he'd been alive he could conjure secondary bodies that bore his likeness and acted as his minions. Now that he was sealed below Azkaban frozen in a salt solution frozen at impossibly cold temperatures his copies bore his likeness: devoid of blood, eyes, organs, and emitting freezing cold like their original. The Dementors prowled over the Island hunting anyone who came near it's shores. Eventually they stopped attacking people long enough for someone to communicate with the monsters and the rest is common history. Dementors escaped to the mainland eating away peoples feellings and emotions vainly trying to enjoy life again and ripping out the souls of those who succumbed to their kiss. The Dementor's kiss was not an in-survivable death sentence, it was far worse. It ruined your will to live. The experience of the kiss was described by the priest who survived it as: "It forced all the misery, sorrow, and despondency of the world into my mind and then offered to take my soul out of the body in a painless suicide in order to avoid living in a truly miserable joyless world."

The priest was one of the few recorded survivers of the Dementors kiss. The only ones who avoided the kisses effects had been not merely religious, but _radically _religious in their devotion. Their fear and/or love of god overrode their desire to avoid misery in a guaranteed painless suicide.

Harry **had** come to the Island to free prisoners and make a stand against Riddle, but his primary concern was destroying the immortal Earl and removing Alhazred's influence from the Island fortress... after which he prayed the demons would leave to find victims elsewhere. Harry knew he was by no means strong spiritually but he was far from succumbing to despair and hopefully the demons would hunt other people who didn't have his desire to live before stalking him and slowly breaking him down later when he was already at a low point.

Honestly he wasn't sure which of the horrible options was worse, but he knew that leaving the Dementors alive was even more foolish than destroying them and facing the consequences.

"I can do this..." Harry muttered as he looked at the black slab of ice that sat inlaid within the wall in front of him. He took a deep breath and exhaled while forming a circle of flaming symbols on the ice.

"...Heaven help me I can do this." With that said to reinforce his will Harry laid his hand on the slab of ice, and closed his eyes as flames burning brighter than magnesium, and several hundred times hotter exploded out of his hand and began eating through the ice.

It was slow work but the ice slab actually continued down a spiral staircase and as Harry walked down the steps evaporating/sublimating away the barrier in front of him he realized exactly how cold the core of the prison must be. Finally the stairs ended and the light of his flaming drill illuminated the ice filled cavern he was steadily melting his way into. Within the icy wall in front of him, behind sheets of ice harder than diamond, he could see the coffin, chained and covered in seals.

As Harry ran through his mind calculating what he could use to kill the prisoner without freeing it, he felt the cold slimy fingers of legimency trailing over his mental sheilds.

"_Quite the Occlems aren't you, Little Magician._" Harry tensed and lashed out violently at the source of the telepathic message. If the eerie foreign laughter that rang through his head was any indicator it was safe to assume he hadn't hurt the intruder.

"_To think after all these years. The one who found my prison is the same sad crying brat that fainted from the presence of my weak shades._"

Harry felt his ire rise up through his growing fear.

"_So arrogant. You actually think you're better? Than me? than the Snake?_"

Harry snapped.

"I don't think I'm better, I **know** it!" There was silence for a moment and then laughter ripped through his mind.

"_Your arrogance is astounding. You've made it here to the cell of a man long forgotten by time... but in reality you found nothing, the man who did the searching wasn't you it was Grindelwald. You've done nothing, you can do nothing. You've gained power you don't deserve, skills you never worked for and experience that other people died to gain. And In the end you are still nothing but a errand boy for the dead._"

Harry glared through the ice at the coffin containing his accuser.

"_Scary. I'm terrified. Let me give you some advice child, your confidence is unfounded, your opponent is far better than you assume he is. Gellert had knowledge of the forbidden, Kimball has cruelty, but Riddle is more dangerous than both of them._"

Part of Harry halfheartedly tried to ignore the thing's words, but he was curious. He wouldn't ask but if the dying man was going to give him advice... well how much could it hurt?

"Why ?" His question was a both verbal and a growl, two things he hadn't intended.

"_Simple. He's more powerful and intelligent than you believe. But, his true strength is in his own fragile mind. He's butchered his soul, and in many ways his mind. He's unpredictably insane. He plans methodically and carefully, but he's torn. He follows patterns and randomly acts on instinct. He could offer alliance or torture in the same moment. He's reckless with his resources. He's Vindictive and most important he is obsessive._"

"The same could be said about my Aunt Marge's bulldog, so what?" Harry snapped.

"_You're truly an incorrigible ignorant child._"

Muttering a focusing chant he whipped the Elder wand around him summoning flaming runes schemes from his mind while he sliced his hand open and let the blood flow out freely until the wound stitched itself closed.

"Sorry" Harry said speaking to the coffin in the ice. "Nothing personal but you need to die." Without another word he pointed his wandtip at his victim and the blood he'd spilled burned away as the runes floated to attach to his wand. For a moment nothing happened and then gold flames burst from his wand, plowing through the solid icy barrier like it was made of smoke. True Gubraithian Fire, burning ceaselessly, destroyed the entire underground chamber, But as Harry bolted up the stairs eager to evacuate before the whole area caved in he heard the eerie telepathic voice of the Earl calling out in insane amusement.

"_You two are the same! Hopeless!_"

He sprinted up the steps and into the dungeon level of the citadel mere moments later. After leveling out of the staircase he turned and flew down the halls searching for his partner.

He didn't have to look long, about eighty seconds later he arrived at a caved in section section of the prison where Ron and a swarm of gigantic hawks burning with the flames of Horus were protecting a group of prisoners while holding off thirty Guards.

Harry observed the conflict for a moment before he roused himself to action. With a stabbing of his wand he fired out a shockwave of crimson energy accompanied by a blast that sounded like someone firing a dozen cannons.

The shockwave ripped through the air and sent the Prison Guards and Ron crumbling to the floor like puppets that had their strings cut.

Without pausing Harry summoned the guards wands and revived Ron with a flick of his wand.

"We need to go." He stated pulling a small brown cube the size of a matchbox. Ron, shook his head dizzily and nodded tiredly.

"Right." Harry tapped the box in his hand and it expanded into a trunk the size of a coffin.

"Get everyone inside." He snapped as he pulled off the lid of the trunk showing that the inside was exponentially larger on the inside.

In forty-five seconds all twenty rescued prisoners were stunned and locked inside the trunk. As Harry shrunk the trunk and put it in his pocket Ron looked around at the Dementor-less landscape.

"You broke Azkaban."

Harry didn't respond to Ron's observation, he was absorbed in thought, so much so that he almost missed the burst of energy that accompanied a pair of Portkey's arriving.

He looked over at the arrivals, ignoring the 'Aurors' he looked directly at one man. Tom Riddle.

Were he being honest Harry would admit that yes, he and the Dark Lord now looked similar. Both had long jet black hair and pale-white skin, both had sharpened facial features, glowing eyes and tall skeletal bodies.

_He's more powerful and intelligent than you believe._

It was hard to accept, he knew it shouldn't have been but as he observed his fellow sorcerer he realized it was true. Riddle was stronger, ridiculously stronger than he had been years ago.

_His powers...were surprisingly well-developed for such a young wizard and — most interestingly and ominously of all — he had already discovered that he had some measure of control over them, and begun to use them consciously...they were not the random experiments typical of young wizards: He was already using magic against other people, to frighten, to punish, to control._

Maybe he had underestimate his primary opponent.

_There is no good and evil, there is only power...and those too weak to seek it._

With a mentality like that was it even possible that Riddle could be anything less than a Master Sorcerer?

_The most dangerous Dark wizard of all time._

Harry let out a sigh

"Ron, change of plan." Without another word he lashed out with his wand unleashing a explosive flood of water on the new arrivals. Without ceasing the flood Harry threw his free hand out and directed the deluge to form into a spinning pillar that proceeded to eject it's victims out into the raging surf with explosive force.

Once the arrivals were thrown clear off the Island Harry saw the proof he needed.

"Bloody burning bollocks!" Ron's choice words summed up Harry's feelings quite nicely.

Tom Riddle had accomplished something Harry had dreamt of since childhood: unaided flight. The older sorcerer glided through the air like smoke and Harry couldn't help but envy his opponent's ability. Envy gave way to rage, pure unadulterated envy driven wrath followed in the wake. Riddle had been a given. He'd all but written off You-Know-Who as a minor nuisance, He was so obsessed with what he had to do after winning, he'd forgotten why he needed to win.

Dumbledore had been too weak to win.

Handicap or not that's what it amounted to. Dumbledore hadn't been good enough, he'd been too old, too tired, and too weak. Harry felt the chuckle growing in his throat but he didn't stifle it, he let it out. Once it developed to full-blown hysterical laughter he moved. He pointed his wand skyward at the man he'd been born to kill, and he let loose hell. Flechette's of burning metal exploded into the sky with a roar, they smashed into a barrier of magic with the sound of crackling lightning. When the Shield fell away and bolts of black flames rained down on the island like hail as the stones on the ground hurled themselves skyward.

The airborne Dark Lord, clearly unaccustomed to aerial combat, returned to the earth avoiding the boulders of stone that Harry had hurled into the sky above. As Tom landed he was forced to duck underneath a missile of molten iron that exploded outwards on impact with the ground a few meters away, as he ducked he sent out a vibrating electric blue beam that tore the terrain apart, reducing stone to dust and leaving nothing but the scent of ozone and burning stone in it's path. Harry parried the attack with a lightning bolt and the two attacks detonated with so much force that the prison of Azkaban cracked and crumbled.

Harry lashed out with a horizontal slash of his wand and let loose a wave like concussive blast that destroyed the remains of the stone citadel and blasted copious amounts of the stone structure into the freezing ocean. Voldemort conjured a shield that was shattered by the destructive wave of magic but still took the brunt of the attack in his stead. As the shield shattered, it revealed Riddle and a few dozen serpents formed out of the rubble of Azkaban, each one was easily ten meters in length and thicker than oak trees.

Harry felt rage rush through his body like a flood released from a damn and green flames whipped off his body. He raised the Deathstick over his head like an ax and brought it down with a scream of:

"PERISH!"

As the wand descended it let loose a wall of crackling rusty brown flames that tore over the ground and ripped through Riddle's serpents just as Riddle leapt into the sky like formless smoke. The inferno continued to burn a deepening trench outwards, eating through the ground and the air, leaving blackened seared earth and molten rock in its path. By the time the flames exploded into the surf over a hundred meters away they had formed a trench over eight meters deep and forty meters wide. But the flames were still burning at the tip of the Deathstick and Harry was _**far**_ from finished.

Harry raised his wand with a sweeping movement and let out another wave of flames into the air. Riddle evaded the attack by flying higher into the air. As Harry raised his wand to attack again he heard the sound of the surf rising up in the distance. He whipped around and looked out at the sea where a tsunami was growing ever taller.

"Harry maybe we should leave."

Harry glanced over at Ron who was looking at Harry with a pleading look on his face, and then up at Riddle who was floating up in the atmosphere without a care in the world.

"Maybe, maybe not. But I'm not about to lose." Harry pulled the shrunken trunk out of his pocket and tapped it with his wand before tossing it at the Redhead.

"Take care of the dead weight. I'll catch up." Then, the trunk and Ron portkeyed away.

Without a sound Harry disapparated as the artificial tsunami crashed down on the remains of Azkaban, and reappeared about two kilometers above sea level: a little over a meter above the Dark Lord Voldemort.

"Crucio!" Harry shouted as he descended upon Riddle like a wolf. Riddle turned just as Harry's outstretched hand extended and latched onto Tom's right forearm and a blood red beam of magic impacted with his chest.

While Tom spasmed in agony clearly resisting the urge to scream, Harry whipped his foe backwards, dislocated the last Slytherin's shoulder, and procceded to snap his elbow backwards before slamming his heal into the black robed man's temple with the added magical force of a bludgeoning hex, sending Tom hurtling towards the water washed remains of an island below them while disapparating so that he wouldn't share in his foe's impending bone-shattering impact with the stone isle below.

As Harry plunged into the ocean surface with enough force to rip his the skin off a normal man's body he thanked Albus for forcing him to master strengthening his body with magic. After a moment of soaking in icy saltwater he mustered the will to apparate back onto the isle of Azkaban, where he found Tom Riddle broken on the ground. With bones protruding through his skin and robes, blood spayed around the point of impact like the contents of a popped water balloon and a shattered spinal column the Dark Lord was not looking well. Of course that he'd survived being sent smashing into bedrock after a two-kilometer fall was nothing short of miraculous. Had Harry not been tired, freezing, and furious he may have been impressed. As it stood, Harry _**was**_ furious. Horcrux and dark rituals or not a two-kilometer freefall is supposed to kill people. Tom was not dead, and if his movements were anything to go by he was still conscious.

Harry had known that Riddle couldn't die before the Cup and Nagini were destroyed, that was the only reason he hadn't just used Avada Kedavra during their aerial skirmish. And while Riddle may not be dead, may not be able to die, if he still had the ability to feel pain and bleed then it didn't matter. Either option allowed for debilitation.

"_Crucio_!"

Maybe it wasn't a good thing to be using unforgivable curses as his first choice but he was past caring. In the past hour he'd had his mind scanned by a five century old Warlock that was the template for Dementors, used the Flames of Horus, conjured Gubraithian Fire, used more magic in a single skirmish than many wizards used in their entire life, free-fell two kilometers into icy ocean waters and was currently in denial that he'd grossly miscalculated his opponent's indefatigability.

"CRUCIO!"

"CONFRINGO!"

"EVISCERO!"

"INCENDIAS!"

"EXPULSO!"

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

"IMPERIO!"

"FORARO!"

Harry released his curse and turned his wand to the task of destroying his new foes. Firing a devastating concussive blast at the stone plain between him and the new arrivals caused the rocky earth to explode upwards into the path of the spellfire while simultaneously raining shrapnel on the unfortunate reinforcements.

Not giving his foes the chance to cast a second volley he let loose another concussive shock wave, this time directing it at the actual group of people who'd arrived and pumping enough force into the shock wave that their bones shattered and their skin split even as they were sent hurtling off the flattened island and into the freezing surf. As he let the shock-wave loose the only warning he received that his first opponent had recovered was the familiar sound of magic forming at wandtip prior to casting, luckily it was all he needed to dodge out of the path of a purple beam of light that exploded from the wand of a heavily injured, but still very alive Tom Riddle.

"You filthy swine! I'll rip out your spine and strangle you with it!" Riddle was definitely looking worse for the wear as he spat out blood and saliva as he addressed his opponent who was rapidly tiring from continuous combat even if he didn't show it to his enemy.

Harry's reply couldn't be heard because at that moment the already cracked and water blasted surface of the isle splintered with a loud crack and Gubraithian fire exploded skywards as the island began collapsing in on itself.

Storm clouds overhead let loose a deluge and thunder rumbled through the sky as the two sorcerers stared each other down. And as the stony island began to crumble the wave of the sea swept up over the isle. As the last remnants of the prison's elaborate wards vanished the two combatants were left with a choice: Continue to fight as the sea swallowed up the island, or retreat. In the end Tom made the decision for the pair of them.

"I'll deal with you later. Enjoy your final hours, Filth." As he delivered his final address Riddle dissolved into smoke and apparated away, leaving Harry alone atop the burning ruins of Azkaban.

For a moment the young Sorcerer stood there, unmoving as the wind whipped rain and spray over the stone flat that was still collapsing from the heat of the Gubraithian fire dwelling in the bowels of the isle. It wasn't until the entire island cracked in half that Harry acted and even then it was only with half-hearted slow movements that he went about taming and sealing the inferno. A task that first required him to spend the next half-hour slowly compressing the inferno into a single flame the size of a matchstick, before steadily reabsorbing the magic of the flames while chanting over the course of an hour.

After reabsorbing the magic of the flames Harry was in agony. The pressure of the magic flowing through his body was more intense than any exercise Albus or Gellert had ever experienced, but in the waves of pain Harry stayed silent. Once he was able he sat down atop one of the few above water boulders left in the island's stead and let out a single long roar of frustration.

He was furious, with himself for being so disgustingly arrogant, with Dumbledore for not having defeated Riddle years prior, with Grindelwald for a whole host of crimes the least of which was robbing Albus of his power, and of course he was absolutely beyond enraged with Tom Riddle.

Tom was the one part of his life that followed him everywhere, in his infancy, in his dreams, in his school, in the fucking diary of his best friend's sister! The man was everywhere! A damn plague that stuck to him like a shadow! And just when he thought he through. Tom _always_ showed up and proved once again how impossibly adaptable he was.

The man fucking FLEW into the goddamn clouds! He survived a two _**thousand**_ meter free-fall into a stone slab while under the bloody cruciatus curse! Horcruxes be damned! That was just plain wrong.

Sure he hadn't gone all out in his attempts to kill the snake but it shouldn't have even been a competition. He was supposed to be stronger! How in Merlin's blazing balls was Riddle even able to stand up to him? For all intents and purposes he was the magical lovechild of Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Fucking Grindelwald, he had a blood transfusion from a damn phoenix, had been sipping distilled unicorn, and was the Master of Bloody Death! He should be able to kill Riddle a thousand times over.

It wasn't until he'd run the entire sum of his knowledge of Tom through his head twice that he caught a reason for his foe's bottomless endurance.

The Dark Mark. It was the only thing that came to mind. Had Tom taken the magic of his followers in order to boost his strength? Probably, it explained why a significant portion of the original Death Eaters died outside combat, and why none had died from old age. Was it possible he'd drained their lives in order to preserve his own fractured existence? Yes, it was very possible. So what could he do to counter?

_Kill the spare._

Yeah, that would work. Take a cue from the master and remove the obstructions, in this case that meant getting rid of all the bearers of the mark. He would have had to anyway he'd just move the task higher up on his to do list. Besides what else could he do with people like Lestrange and the Carrows? Disarm them? Stun them? Put them in prisons so that they broke out once every few years?

"For the greater good?" Harry asked looking up at the sky and pulling back his hood as the rain continued to drench him.

"I'm doing a lot of crazy things for it today, aren't I?"

Thunder ripped through the air and Harry chuckled tiredly as he felt Ron apparate overhead on a broomstick.

"HARRY!" Ron shouted as he quickly landed next to his soaked friend.

"You alright?" Harry merely smiled and airily waved a hand at his surroundings.

"Oh you know, I just feel a little under the weather."

Ron looked at his friend in disbelief.

"You're a riot you know that? Where's the snake?"

"Gone, he left shouting something about snuggling me with my wine."

"Riiight, let's get you out of the rain okay Harry?" Harry chuckled and nodded as he stood up and grabbed his partner's arm.

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea."


End file.
